The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is allocating $25 million in new funding to advance concentrating solar power (CSP) system technologies.
The new grant program will fund research and development projects to improve the performance and increase the efficiency of CSP plant components, with the ultimate goal of lowering the cost of solar electricity. The DOE says the funding opportunity builds on existing efforts to enable cost-competitive CSP electric power generation.
Eligible projects may include work to overcome efficiency and temperature limitations and projects to demonstrate or prove new concepts for CSP plant components. Key components targeted for advancements include solar collectors, receivers, thermal energy storage systems, heat transfer fluids and other technologies with the potential to lower operations and maintenance costs or achieve system-wide cost efficiencies.
To find more information about the CSP funding program, including application requirements, click here.