Proposed solar power plants switching from thermal to PV technology PDF Print E-mail
Written by Jim Sloan   
Friday, 09 December 2011 10:02
solar_thermalThe price of photovoltaic solar panels has been plummeting in recent months and many utility-scale solar energy farms planned for the Southwest are abandoning their solar thermal plant plans and switching to PV.

Photovoltaic panels are easier to install than thermal systems, which concentrate sunshine to boil water to turn energy-generating turbines. What is more, utilities, developers and their financial backers will naturally gravitate toward cheaper technology in order to justify their investment to state regulators and ratepayers.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, the PV prices are being pushed downward by a glut of cheap panels manufactured in China. As a result, five of nine approved solar thermal projects in California has twitched to PV from thermal and “similar shifts are happening in Arizona and Nevada.”

Although PV projects are more sensitive to cloud cover, thermal projects have some folks worried about plants using so much of the desert’s limited water supplies that native plants and animals might be affected.

photovoltaic
Solar thermal projects (top photo), which concentrate heat
to boil water and generate power, are being replaced by
photovoltaic systems (bottom photo) due to a price drop
in the PV panels.

 

Add comment


Security code
Refresh