Solar Traps: World-Changer Or Vaporware?

solar traps ronald ace

A Maryland inventor's claim of a radically new and better (but largely not revealed) approach to solar power is getting attention. Is there anything to it? Read more →

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Solar Tower With Storage Advances In Nevada

crescent dunes solarreserve

SolarReserve reports that the receiving unit for its Crescent Dunes solar power tower, with molten salt storage tech, is in place. Read more →

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Record-Big Solar For Middle East Oil Barons

Shams 1 concentrating solar power

A 100-megawatt parabolic trough solar station launches in Abu Dhabi; the developers are calling it the world’s largest concentrating solar power plant. Read more →

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What The Flux: BrightSource Heats Up Solar Tower

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The massive Ivanpah power-tower solar energy plant is in the home stretch of development, having achieved "first flux," BrightSource Energy says. Read more →

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Concentrating Solar: Can Storage Save Its Bacon?

Crescent Dunes CPS project under construction in Nevada (image via SolarReserve)

Some say CSP can't compete with cheap PV, but the industry points to studies showing cost advantages when thermal storage is employed. Read more →

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For Solar Storage, Researchers Offer Concrete Idea

thermoclien tes arkansas

Arkansas researchers say parallel concrete plates instead of packed rock inside a single storage tank would be an effective, safe and cheaper way to store solar energy. Read more →

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Solar Power Tower Going Up In South Africa

abengoa power tower south africa

Abengoa takes its solar power tower technology outside Spain, starting work on a 50 megawatt project in South Africa, which is also getting a 100 MW parabolic trough plant. Read more →

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BrightSource Eyes More Power Towers With Cash Infusion

bloomberg clean energy investment

Concentrating solar might be struggling, but BrightSource Energy just raised $80 million in equity investment, and won regulator approval for two (of five) power purchase deals. Read more →

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Siemens Says Auf Wiedersehen To Solar

Siemens solar sell-off solel

Three years after buying parabolic trough concentrating solar company Solel, Siemens says it is getting out. Read more →

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Solar Tower Project, Halfway Done, Clears Court Hurdle

ivanpah

Environmentalists are still trying to stop the Ivanpah concentrating solar plant in the Mojave Desert, but it's already passed the midway point in construction. Read more →

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