WIND/SOLAR ENERGY TRADING: A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

John Connaughton | Ecobuild 2010

Global construction consultants

RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY - Making it work

Obstacles
Natural energy sources are variable – high levels of fossil-fuel
back-up are required
High capital expense vs fossil fuels (at least for now)
Grid infrastructure is nation-based rather than regional

Solutions
Capture energy where it is abundant and transport it to where it’s
needed
Make use of multiple types of energy to offset variability
Capture and distribute energy over a wide area to balance supply
and demand
Use storage mechanisms to meet peaks in demand
RENEWABLE ELECTRICITY - Making it work

David Mackay: UK Government Chief Scientist (“Sustainable Energy —

without the hot air”)
“Places like Britain and Europe are in a pickle because they have large
population densities, and all the available renewables are diffuse – they
have small power density.
…we should look to countries that have three things: a) low population
density; b) large area; and c) a renewable power supply with high power
density”
Lord Turner, CCC. Dec 2008:
"Solar energy reaching the earth each day is around 10,000 times current
total human energy consumption.
Both solar PV and CSP could theoretically meet all 2050 global electricity
needs with a land use of less than 0.4% of global land surface area.”
ELECTRICITY GENERATION TECHNOLOGIES COMPARED

Peak Power 100 to 2000 hours per year 10 to 25 ct/kWh

Pumped Hydro Storage, Fuel Oil, Gas Turbine, Biomass,
Geothermal, CSP
Intermediate Power 2000 to 5000 h/y 5 to 12 ct/kWh
Coal, Gas Combined Cycle, Biomass, Geothermal, CSP
Base Load 6000 to over 8000 h/y 3 to 6 ct/kWh
Coal, Lignite,Nuclear, River run-off, Gas combined cycle, Co-
generation, Wind, Solar PV, Geothermal, CSP
RENEWABLE ENERGY POTENTIAL IN EU-MENA
(Yield in GWhel/km²/y)
Biomass (0-1)
Geothermal (0-1) Wind (0-50)
Hydropower (0-50)

A CSP plant of the

size of Lake Nasser
equals the total Middle
Solar (up to 250) East oil production
HARVESTING SOLAR ENERGY IN BULK

Solar PV
Scaleable, no need for water or supervision, but fickle.

Concentrated Solar PV (CPV)

Suitable for siting on buildings, where cooling may be a beneficial
by-product

Concentrating Solar Thermal

Receivers much simpler and more durable than PV
CONCENTRATING SOLAR THERMAL ELECTRICITY

Thermal Turbine
Storage
Generator
Solar Field
Expansion
vessel
Air cooled or wet
cooled condenser

The mainstream CSP technology

One sq km of high insolation desert region can provide:
• peak power of 20-60 MW (e) and 250million kWh p.a.
• or 60 million m3 of desalinated water / year (4kWh/m3)
CSP vs PV

CSP Uses heat rather than light

CSP is typically utility scale, ie 10 MW – 250 MW per plant.
‘Centralised’ vs Decentralised
CSP requires strong clear sunshine, PV copes better with cloud and
in cooler climates. PV loses efficiency as temperatures increase
PV has higher embodied energy and carbon and produces more
toxic waste in manufacturing / disposal
CPV requires less semiconductor material, but greater land area.
CSP vs PV

CSP can store collected solar energy. Electricity generation can

continue through cloudy periods and into darkness.
CSP can be co-fired with gas to maintain output.
CSP can supply process heat for industry, desalination, and
absorption cooling for buildings.
CSP - 10GW in detailed planning worldwide, 1 GW in construction.
Current installed base circa 500 MW
PV - in 2008 Spain installed 2.5 GWp out of global 5.5GWp. Current
installed base circa 15 GW.
CPV – Iberian peninsula leading. SolFocus target of 100MWp by
end 2009
CONCENTRATING SOLAR THERMAL ELECTRICITY
TECHNOLOGIES

Power Tower
Parabolic Trough

Compact Linear
Fresnel Parabolic Dish
CONC SOLAR THERMAL ELECTRICITY TECHNOLOGIES

Kramer Junction

PARABOLIC
TROUGHS
Nevada 1
CONC SOLAR THERMAL ELECTRICITY TECHNOLOGIES

COMPACT
KramerLINEAR
Junction
FRESNEL
REFLECTOR

Main player:
Ausra, (USA / Australia)
CONC SOLAR THERMAL ELECTRICITY TECHNOLOGIES

POWER TOWER
Kramer Junction

Main players:
eSolar, BrightSource
CONC SOLAR THERMAL ELECTRICITY TECHNOLOGIES

Fresnel is claimed to need less land than parabolic troughs and a

third as much as dish systems.
Less complex pipework for heat transfer fluid, lower pumping
overheads
No complex tracking systems like tower heliostats
Towers don’t need flat land
Towers have more compact pipework can operate at higher
temperatures - more efficient
Parabolic troughs have proven experience
CONC SOLAR THERMAL ELECTRICITY TECHNOLOGIES
STORAGE

Power supply from a CSP plant can be scheduled and can continue
after dark. Up to 8000 full power hours per year.

Thermal
Molten salt
Concrete, Graphite
Phase change

Thermo-chemical
Ammonia (Wizard Power, Australia)
Magnesium Hydride (BSR Solar, Germany)
CONC SOLAR THERMAL ELECTRICITY TECHNOLOGIES
Thermal storage – Andasol 1
CONC SOLAR THERMAL ELECTRICITY TECHNOLOGIES
Cooling

Wet Cooling
Uses 3.5 meters3 water per
MWh

Dry Cooling
Reduces plant water
consumption by 90%
but loss of efficiency increases
cost of electricity by 10%

Hybrids being developed

CONC SOLAR THERMAL ELECTRICITY TECHNOLOGIES

TRANSMISSION

HIGH VOLTAGE DIRECT CURRENT (HVDC)

Up to 800kV
3% loss per 1000km
Only viable system for undersea cables
Cheaper than HVAC for long distances (like over about 600 – 800
kilometres)
Interconnects and decouples national grids
90% of global population live within 2700 km of a desert
CONC SOLAR THERMAL ELECTRICITY TECHNOLOGIES

HVDC vs HVAC
Corridor widths (looking down the cables)

Fewer conductors

Smaller cables

Less land
GLOBAL HVDC TRANSMISSION

Total capacity > 75 GW in more than 90 projects, Total Length > 25,000 miles
Connect renewable power sources like hydropower or geothermal power with
distant centres of demand
Interconnect countries over sea (e.g. UK-France, Baltic Cable, Italy-Greece,
Sardinia)
DESERTEC CONCEPT
DESERTEC CONCEPT

TREC – Trans Mediterranean Energy Cooperation

German Aerospace Centre (DLR) TRANS–CSP and MED CSP
reports
Plan for 100GW of exportable solar power (above the needs of
sunbelt countries) by 2050
Improve the resilience and security of Europe's electricity supplies,
and avoid any new nuclear in Europe
Costs – 400 billion Euros over 30 years, only 10 billion of Govt
subsidies
Multiple undersea HVDC cables linking MENA and EU. Twenty 5
GW interconnectors in 2050
MEDITERRANEAN SOLAR PLAN

EU & N. African initiative “Union for the Mediterranean”

(French-Egyptian co-presidency - Economic and security
collaboration)
MSP announced in mid 2008
20GW new RE capacity to be installed by 2020 with 15% for
export to EU
MSP to provide start up support for sunbelt countries:
carbon funding and concessional loans
access to European market RE prices
new public policies to address non economic barriers
CSP GLOBAL PICTURE

USA – most active market, State RE targets driving investments.

SW deserts prime resource. Start up manufacturers –
BrightSource, sSolar, Ausra
Germany – technology suppliers: Solar Millennium, MAN.
Architects and researchers: DLR and MSP.
France – architects and political supporters: MSP
Spain – most active EU market, 500MW CSP in planning.
Abengoa and Acciona. Researchers.
Australia – perfect climate, high energy and water demand. Local
developers – Ausra, Wizard Power, Acquasol. Retrofitting CSP to
coal plants. 50x50 km area would meet 2020 electricity demand
CSP GLOBAL PICTURE

Jordan – supporter of DESERTEC concept, high desalination

demand
Abu Dhabi – MASDAR SHAMS 1 100MW CSP in construction
Egypt – site of first CSP plant in 1920s, MSP supporter
Morocco – co-fired CSP in construction
Tunisia – NUR Energie working on scheme targeted at 2,000MW,
mainly for export to Italy. Using a tower system by BrightSource
Algeria – co-fired CSP in construction, exploring undersea cable
connection to Germany
China – ample desert resources, local company Solar ETC.
Building 1.5MW CSP Tower for 2010, 150 MW of CSP by 2015.
CSP - Davis Langdon’s involvement

For over a year, Davis Langdon have hosted a series of monthly

meetings with speakers from leading industrialists in solar
technology, and with senior representatives of government bodies
We can help with feasibility work, using a financial model which
may be interrogated according to the peak output requirement,
insolation levels, wet / dry cooling, amount of storage, operational
overheads, revenue per kWhr, seawater desalination (if required),
etc.
Project Management
Contract management and negotiations
Risk management