Concentrated Solar Power: Technology and Potential in Jordan

As energy demands increases year by year, we must find sources of energy that compensate for the increased demand while at the same time limiting our use of conventional sources of energy since their available resources are dwindling yearly, and because of their harmful effect on the environment and their part in increasing the effects of climate change. This means the share of renewables in the energy share mix must increase. A great method of generating renewable energy is the use of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), which generally operates on a Rankine cycle for generating energy, by concentrating sun rays using reflectors at a point, or along several points, which contain the working fluid of the cycle. The working fluid is then heated by the reflected solar energy due to solar thermal energy and is used to generate steam that is fed into the Rankine cycle to eventually generate electricity. CSP plants however are not a 100% fully renewable sources of energy as some plants substitute differences in production using fossil fuels, and some CSP plants can be combined with already existing conventional power plants. CSP also has a great advantage against other renewable sources since it can be dispatchable using a thermal storage that stores heat and allows it to keep generating electricity for some time when there is no sunlight.CSP is still relatively an expensive form of renewable energy, however in recent years its costs are steadily dropping, with investments and new projects increasing, with Spain being the country with the most CSP plants globally. Jordan has introduced a few plans for CSP plants to be built in the southern region of Jordan, given its high potential for generating electricity using this method.