Long-Term Modeling of Solar Energy: Analysis of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) and PV Technologies

摘要

This report presents an overview of research conducted on solar energy technologies and their implementation in the ObjECTS framework. The topics covered include financing assumptions and selected issues related to the integration of concentrating thermal solar power (CSP) and photovoltaics PV technologies into the electric grid. A review of methodologies for calculating the levelized energy cost of capital-intensive technologies is presented, along with sensitivity tests illustrating how the cost of a solar plant would vary depending on financing assumptions. An analysis of the integration of a hybrid concentrating thermal solar power (CSP) system into the electric system is conducted. Finally a failure statistics analysis for PV plants illustrates the central role of solar irradiance uncertainty in determining PV grid integration characteristics.