Comparison of actual Levelized Cost of Electricity of solar thermal concentrating solar power plants

Abstract

Forecasts based on modeling of concentrated solar tower power plants with thermal energy storage of 10 hours daily predict the production of dispatchable electricity at 6 c/kWh. Currently, there is no plant utility size in operation featuring this technology and at this predicted cost. The recent experience of Crescent Dunes, an example of this type of technology, should be used to better estimate the current cost of dispatchable electricity. Crescent Dunes started operation in October 2015 demonstrating since the very beginning the lack of maturity of this specific technology, experiencing a lack of production or no production at all, every single month since starting operation. The 110 MW plant (currently not in operation) provides a cost, excluding repairs and maintenance costs, of 2.38 $/kWh of unpredictable electricity. This experience suggests that every prediction of costs and performances should be based on data of plants built and operating, to avoid the use of models not yet validated to predict performances of novel plants. By surveying other technology based on parabolic through, the current actual costs are here determined for specific latest operating plants in the range of more realistic 8-12 c/kWh.