Concentrating Solar Power News
Explore our archive of concentrating solar power news stories.
Dec. 10, 2018
NREL scientists have a long history of successfully analyzing geothermal and solar energy data. But they are now actively researching desalination capabilities by partnering with technology leaders on several groundbreaking projects. The purpose is to explore geothermal and solar-thermal technologies for creating fresh water from otherwise unusable water.
Nov. 20, 2018
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and General Electric (GE) have joined forces to tackle an issue that is relatively new ground for the power industry. Five years ago, most people couldn't envision high penetration on the grid of variable-generation renewables such as photovoltaics (PV) and wind.
Sept. 21, 2018
With seven new projects, NREL will elevate research in concentrating solar power (CSP). The projects are funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) through a National Laboratory call for proposals.
July 18, 2018
Used by researchers and project developers, NREL's Solar Power Tower Integrated Layout and Optimization Tool (SolarPILOT(TM)) generates and characterizes power tower systems or systems using central receivers. The software--along with its companion ray-tracing tool SolTrace--is now being made available as open source on NREL's GitHub page. Both the SolarPILOT and SolTrace GitHub projects are open to contributions from users, and a webinar planned for July 18th will present the open-source projects.
May 29, 2018
NREL has received $7 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop the next generation of liquid-phase concentrating solar power technology.