Solar thermal power plants are the future of energy provision.
Every year the sun transmits over 1 billion terawatt hours of energy to the earth – 60 thousand times the world's electricity demand. For that reason, solar energy significantly outshines all other renewable energy sources such as biomass, hydropower or wind energy.
Solar thermal power plants are an efficient, profitable option for generating electricity on a large scale. They are best suited to sun-rich regions. In the past few years, the industry has expanded rapidly: meanwhile the technology has flourished as a suitable solution for mass production of electricity. According to the report "Global outlook for solar thermal power plants 2009", solar thermal power plants could cover up to 7 per cent of the forecast global energy demand by 2030 in a scenario with ambitious industry development and higher energy efficiency. By 2050 it could even be a quarter.
Proportion of renewable energies
The EU plans to achieve 20 per cent of its energy provision from renewable sources by 2020; 22 States in the USA have a goal of 10-20 per cent of renewable energy and China has a target of generating 100 GW from renewable energy sources by the year 2020.
In which regions can solar thermal energy be efficiently used for energy production?
Worldwide CSP power plants in operation, under construction and being planned 2010
Facts and Figures
- Growth of energy demand from 2006 to 2030 of around 44 %
- Total radiation from the sun: 3.8 x 1020 MW
- Specific radiation: 1 m² of the sun's surface gives 63.500 kW of radiation. 20 m² upwards corresponds to the output of modern large power plants.
- With reinforced, worldwide engagement from industries and politicians, in the next 20 years 1 billion people could be supplied with solar electricity.
Industry links
- www.nrel.gov – National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
- www.estelasolar.eu – European Solar Thermal Electricity Association
- www.dlr.de/sf/ – German Aerospace Centre The solar research by the DLR aims to have the world's leading system competences in this area and already has an excellent research infrastructure today.
- www.solarpaces.org – Solarpaces is a global network for the development and marketing of concentrated solar energy. To date the network has 19 members globally.
- www.desertec.com – The DESERTEC concept was developed by a network of politicians, scientists and economists around the Mediterranean, from which the DESERTEC Foundation arose. DESERTEC is a holistic solution concept, in order to cover the growing energy demands of humans and also to lower CO2 emissions in time before global warming goes out of control. Along with climate protection and energy security, it also offers numerous development and security policy advantages.
- www.bmu.de – Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.
- www.dbresearch.com
- www.ise.fraunhofer.de/
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