Tommy Rueckert, Solar Program Systems Team Leader, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

1. Solar Solar Energy Technologies Program
Energy Technologies Program
U.S. Department of Energy
Concentrating Solar Power Subprogram
Program Overview
Thomas Rueckert
Solar Program Operations Team Lead
May 6th, 2010
CSTP Conference - San Diego, CA

2. Solar Program Budget
Sub-Elements
Distributed Generation
Photovoltaics (PV)
- on-site or near point of use -
DOE Market Transformation
SETP System Integration
Concentrating Solar
Centralized Generation
Power (CSP) - large users or utilities -
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program

3. CSP Subprogram
CSP Goals and Priorities
Vision:
– Inexpensive power generated from CSP technologies is transmitted
throughout the country to provide a significant percentage of the
country’s electrical power, reducing the country’s emission of CO2 while
creating millions of jobs.
Goals:
– Competitive in intermediate power market by 2015-2017
– Low cost thermal storage in support of the intermediate power market
goal
– Competitive in baseload power market by 2020
Priorities:
– Lower cost through R&D
– Develop low cost storage options
– Lower cost by helping reduce barriers to deployment of projects
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program

4. CSP Goals for Utility Power
The goal of the
CSP sub-program
is make CSP
CSP LCOE with
standardized financial
competitive in the
assumptions intermediate

power market by
2015 and in the
 baseload power
market by 2020.
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program

5. CSP Research and Development
R&D is targeting technical obstacles in an effort to
improve performance and reduce costs of CSP:
Line Focus
Research objectives: Optimize receiver and concentrator
designs for higher temps, increase component suppliers,
evaluate new heat transfer fluids, and create advanced
evaluation capabilities
Point Focus
Research objectives: Improve engine reliability and system
manufacturability and develop next-generation dish system
designs; test new tower receiver panel and explore low cost
heliostat options
Storage
Research objectives: Develop advanced heat transfer fluids
for more efficient operation at high temperatures and test
innovative designs for low-cost storage using sensible and
latent heat options
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program

6. CSP Market Barriers
Land Access
Co-leading a programmatic environmental impact statement with the Bureau of Land
Management to help make suitable federal land available for solar project development
Transmission Access
Working with DOE’s Office of Electricity, Western Area Power Administration, Western
Governors’ Association, and states to identify best locations for transmission corridors
Resource Assessment
Improving satellite data, obtaining ground data from additional sites, forecasting
Cost
Without incentives, current cost for large-scale CSP power is prohibitively high
Water
Water resources are scarce in the locations that are otherwise optimal for CSP
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program

7. DOE’s Roadmap for CSP
Technology FY2008-FY2010 FY2011-FY2014 FY2015-FY2020
Establish/expand U.S. supplier Develop next-generation Develop advanced
base through manufacturing system capable of 450°C collectors, receivers,
Trough
initiative, optical testing to operation integrated with selective coatings, and
Systems
optimize receiver and molten-salt storage. working fluids designed to
concentrator designs operate at 550°C.
Evaluate new concepts (e.g. Down-select best Integrate high temperature
CLFR, distributed power tower), options, support CSP systems with advanced
Advanced
test components, develop dish prototype designs, gas turbine/CC technology,
Technology
technology designed for mass identify key technology reduce system cost through
Systems
production improvement RD&D and manufacturing
opportunities. initiative.
Develop thermocline thermal Adapt storage system to Develop advanced thermal
storage, evaluate two-tank advanced technology storage up to 550°C for
Thermal
molten salt system, develop design, address cost, troughs and up to 1200°C for
Storage
new storage medium and heat performance, operation advanced CSP/CC
transfer fluids and O&M issues technologies.
Supporting Market Transformation Activities:
• Support State and utility deployment efforts
• Work with Loan Guarantee Program to adapt loan guarantees to industry business process
• Work with BLM, State and local governments to mitigate land and permitting barriers
• Provide resource assessment to industry and utilities
• Provide analyses supporting CSP access to transmission
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program

8. DOE Funding for Concentrating Solar Power
120
Solar Demo Zone
100
Baseload FOA
80
Capital Equipment
Budget (Million $)
60
Storage FOA
40
CSP R&D FOA
20
0
FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06 FY07 FY08 FY09 FY09-R FY10 FY11
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program

9. Budget Distribution
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program

10. Budget Distribution
120,000
$ 103 M
100,000
Demonstration Zone
80,000
Market & Analysis
$ 55 M Mgm't & Facilities
60,000 Baseload FOA
Storage
Tower
40,000 Dish
Trough
20,000
0
FY10 FY11
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program

11. 2010 Budget Activity Level ($55M)
Mgm't &
Facilities University
Funding Recipients
4% Demo &
Deploy Trough
12% 25%
Labs
Baseload Industry
FOA
27% Tower
8% Dish
4%
Storage
20%
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program

12. Parabolic Trough Example
50 MW AndaSol-1
Parabolic Trough Plant w/ 7-hr Storage in Andalucia, Spain
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program

13. Power Tower Example
Abengoa PS10 and PS 20
Seville, Spain
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program

14. Dish Engine Example
1.5 MW SES Maricopa Solar Dish Stirling System
Peoria, AZ
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program

15. CSP 2007 and Storage Solicitations
Lay the framework to exceed DOE goals through advanced CSP concepts
• Applicants may propose either an entire system or focus on a component of a
CSP system.
• Objective is to identify and develop new approaches that could dramatically
lower the cost of CSP.
• Enable new technologies to position CSP to be the economical solution for
baseload national energy consumption post 2015
Provide funding to develop thermal storage technology to increase the
dispatchability of CSP technology within the electricity grid.
• Develop low cost, high temperature storage that enables trough technology to
reach its 2020 cost goal.
• To achieve the goal, storage cost of less than $15/kWh thermal is desired with
round trip efficiencies at or greater than 93%.
Establish a United States based manufacturing infrastructure for low cost
CSP trough components.
• Lower the cost of major components of a trough system and to establish
manufacturing capability of those components in the United States.
15
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program

16. CSP Industry R&D Projects
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program Slide 16

17. National Labs Research
• Goal: Support industry in development of CSP technology
– Build lab staff to enable research and development on near and mid-term
technology
– Add and improve lab facilities to support component prototype test and evaluation
– NREL and Sandia cooperate on most major programs and interact with industry as
a single lab (SunLab)
• Lab Budget: FY10 $19M, FY11 $20M (including CSP market transformation tasks)
– NREL - $9.7M,
– Sandia - $8.5M,
– Argonne - $0.85M
• Major Programs:
– Materials research in reflectors, receivers, storage media (NREL lead)
– Trough collectors, optical tools, development of standards (NREL lead)
– Towers: system analysis, heliostat & receiver development (Sandia lead)
– Storage: system concepts, (NREL, Sandia co-leads)
– Dish – support 25 kW dish Stirling project (Sandia Lead)
– PEIS – analysis of BLM land suitable for solar projects (Argonne lead)
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program Slide 17

18. Baseload Solicitation
(TBD awards Feb 2010)
Goal: develop CSP system capable of competing in the baseload power market by 2020 to
displace coal, a major source of CO2 emissions
Budget: $15M in FY11, $15M in FY12, $52M total over 4 years
Program Controls: each award broken into 3 phases (feasibility, engineering
design, prototype test/evaluation) with a stage-gate review at end of each, peer review
Strategy:
– Systems must have a capacity factor of 75% (10+ hours of storage)
– Cost of competing power estimated at 8-9 cents/kWh (assuming restriction on coal
emissions requires sequestration that raises cost of coal power)
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program Slide 18

19. CSP Demonstration Solicitation &
Site Selection (TBD awards Oct 2010)
Goal: demonstrate innovative CSP technologies that lowers the cost of power or adds
capability to CSP systems (e.g. storage) at a scale that shows viability to financial
community
Budget: $1M in FY2010, $50M in FY2011, $150M total over 6 years
Program Controls: two-phases possible for each award (small demos of 1-10MW each, and
full scale demos up to 250MW each) with a stage-gate review at end of phase 1; peer
review by bankers, utilities, and independent engineering companies
Strategy:
– DOE, in cooperation with BLM, select site for demonstrations
– DOE will cost-share small demonstrations that could be located at the DOE site or an
industrial site
– Small demonstrations that pass the stage-gate and peer review could go to full-scale
demonstration at the DOE site.
– DOE will provide site infrastructure and coordinate access to transmission for the full-
scale demonstrations
– DOE will not cost share in the full-scale demonstrations. Industry will be responsible for
obtaining power purchase agreements, obtaining financing, constructing, operating and
maintaining the demonstrations.
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program Slide 19

20. CSP Demonstration Solicitation & Site
Selection
Justification:
– In order for CSP systems to compete for utility PPA’s, they are large (>100MW) and
expensive (>$500M)
– Banks are hesitant to loan money to CSP developers using technology that has not
been demonstrated and proven to work as predicted.
– This activity is meant to bridge the gap between lab prototype and commercial
product, without which the CSP industry would not be able to compete in U.S. power
markets without subsidies.
– Collaborations with the DOE Loan Guarantee Program, financial
community, utilities, state transmission entities, WAPA, and BLM .
Policy: Building the full-scale CSP
demonstration systems would be
helped by their being eligible for DOE
Loan Guarantees and the 30%
Treasury grant. This may require the
extension of both of those programs.
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program Slide 20

21. Thank You
CSP Subprogram
Solar Energy Technologies Program
U.S. Department of Energy
Contact:
thomas.rueckert@ee.doe.gov
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program