China will lead capacity additions of concentrated solar power over the next 12 years, with an expected global increase from 5.6 gigawatt (GW) in 2018 to 22.4GW in 2030 predicted by GlobalData.
The market intelligence firm’s latest report shows Chile and various countries in Middle East and North Africa are close behind and are contributing to improved efficiencies, energy storage and cost reduction.
It puts this progress down to a process of competitive bidding, as well as the widespread development of crossover photovoltaic and concentrated solar power systems.
Power analyst Pavan Kumar Vyakaranam said: “The concentrated solar power industry added around 601MW annual capacity in 2018 with projects being operational in countries such as Morocco, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
“China added around 200MW of concentrated solar power capacity in 2018 which is almost seven times its cumulative installed capacity at the end of 2017.
“China’s concentrated solar power market gained momentum after the announcement of 20 projects as part of the first batch of demonstration projects, which will get a feed in tariff (FIT) of RMB1.15/kWh (£0.132/kWh).”
Chile close behind China for concentrated solar power
GlobalData predicts Chile will follow China for concentrated solar capacity additions between now and 2030.
The market in the South American country is primarily driven by its renewable energy targets, which include to have clean power account for 20% of its national energy mix by 2025.
To this end, Chile held a series of technology neutral auctions in 2017 through which the average tariff plummeted from £99.2/MWh in 2013 to £24.97/MWh.
“In Middle East and Africa, countries such as Morocco, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Israel will play a major role for concentrated solar power development during 2019-2030,” added Mr Vyakaranam.
“Morocco had set a plan to source 2GW from solar power by 2020. The country plans to set up and implement sustainable concentrated solar power plants to cover 42% of its power needs by 2020 and bridge the demand supply gap during peak evening hours through thermal storage.
“The global concentrated solar power market is on a revival mode with reducing cost of generation through auction mechanism and hybrid systems.
“Concentrated solar power with thermal storage will gain prominence due to increasing demand for reliable and stable power.”
