IRENA Innovation and Technology Centre, Robert-Schuman-Platz 3, 53175 Bonn, Germany June 2012, - 52p.Renewable power generation can help countries meet their sustainable development goals through provision of access to clean, secure, reliable and affordable energy. Renewable energy has gone mainstream, accounting for the majority of capacity additions in power generation today.Tens of gigawatts of wind, hydropower and solar photovoltaic capacity are installed worldwide every year in a renewable energy market that is worth more than a hundred billion USD annually. Other renewable power technology markets are also emerging. Recent years have seen dramatic reductions in
renewable energy technologies’ costs as a result of R&D and accelerated deployment. Yet policy-makers are often not aware of the latest cost data.Key Findings
List of tables and figures
Introduction
Different measures of cost
Concentrating Solar Power Technologies
Parabolic trough collector technology
Linear Fresnel collector technology
Solar tower technology
Stirling dish technology
The solar resource, CSP plant design and performance
Comparison of CSP technologies
Global CSP market trends
The current cost of CSP
CAPEX: Capital investment cost
Operation and maintenance costs
The impact of the solar resource on electricity generation
CSP Cost Reduction Potentials
Research and development priorities for cost reduction
Cost reduction of CSP components and performance improvements
Overall capital cost reduction potential
O&M cost reduction potential
The levelised cost of electricity from CSP
The current levelised cost of electricity from CSP
The LCOE of CSP plants: 2011 to 2015
