The Sunshot Inititiative: New Opportunities for R&D in Concentrating Solar Power

The SunShot Initiative is a collaborative, national endeavor by the United States Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Office to make electricity generated from the sun cost competitive – on an unsubsidized basis – with traditional forms of electricity generation by the year 2020. Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) constitutes one technological approach to achieving this ambitious goal, generally identified as a levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) ≤ $0.06/kWh_e. CSP focuses the sun’s rays onto a receiver that converts the photons into thermal energy. Part of this thermal energy can then be transported to storage for use when the sun does not shine, while the remainder is transported to a conventional turbine to generate electricity. The turbine, or heat engine, can realize increased thermodynamic efficiency as the input temperatures increase; however, high temperature CSP systems come with significant materials and cost challenges. Evaluating the interfaces found in the solar receiver, thermal energy storage technologies, heat exchangers, and power blocks will help define the technical challenges and their requisite success metrics. The presentation concludes with remarks, links, and information on DOE’s SunShot Initiative so that the audience may stay aware of future Funding Opportunity Announcements.