The team is currently delivering large-scale demonstration concentrated solar thermal (CST) projects, including a solar air turbine; developing a solar fuel; creating solar-generated steam for use in turbines; and developing solar energy storage projects.

Solar air turbine

An air turbine system will soon be demonstrated at CSIRO’s National Solar Energy Centre in Newcastle, New South Wales. The project consists of a tower, receiver and a field of 450 heliostats.

The system will use the Brayton Cycle and will only require the sun and air to create electricity, in contrast to most solar thermal power stations that require water to operate.

Solar radiation from the heliostats will be directed to the receiver in the tower. The solar energy will heat compressed air which will then be forced through the 200kilowatt(kW) turbine to generate electricity.

The pilot site will cover an area of 4000 square metres and all excess electricity created at the site will be fed back into the site’s electrical grid. A pilot site of this size could generate enough electricity to power nearly 200 homes.

The Australian Solar Institute (ASI) has contributed $3.05 million to support the $10.55 million, two-and-a-half-year research project.

Solar fuel

CSIRO is progressing world-class technology, combining two of Australia's largest energy resources– solar energy with natural gas. The resulting product is SolarGas™.

SolarGas™ is a high-temperature CST technology, which CSIRO has been developing since 1998. The sun's energy is captured in an endothermic process (chemical reaction caused by absorbing heat) that transforms the natural gas and water feedstock into a higher energy product – a bit like 'solar supercharging' the fuel. To produce a syngas product that contains more energy than natural gas and embodies around 25 per cent solar energy in the form of chemical bonds.

This new product can be stored and transported or used in its fuel form. In addition, SolarGas™ can reduce emissions in three sectors with highly significant greenhouse gas footprints – electricity, transport fuels and chemicals.

The SolarGas facility at CSIRO’s National Solar Energy Centre uses 170 mirrors to receive and concentrate more than 500kW of solar energy for the process.

Existing fossil technologies perform this reaction using excess water and provide heat for the reaction by burning approximately half of the natural gas supply. CSIRO has developed new, more efficient catalysts which reduce water use. SolarGas™ with new catalysts provides a more efficient process with 50 per cent fossil resource saving and up to 70 per cent reduction in water use.

This project began prior to the formation of the ASI, and has been funded by the Commonwealth Government’s APP program.

Solar steam

CSIRO is aiming to efficiently and effectively create high-temperature, high-pressure solar-generated steam for use in steam turbines, which are currently used in fossil fuel power stations.

To date, solar steam-based electricity generation has been limited to lower temperatures and pressures when compared to current fossil-fuelled electricity power stations. CSIRO will be researching a wide range of temperature and pressure conditions that are suitable for electricity generation.

CSIRO's advanced solar steam project is developing solar thermal receiver technologies to capture concentrated solar energy to produce high-quality steam, which has two major advantages: firstly, the steam can be easily integrated with existing state-of-the-art power plant technology and secondly, it is using a clean, renewable, sustainable power source – the sun.

This project will work in close collaboration with CSIRO's solar storage project to ensure power stationshave access to 24/7 solar energy.

The ASI has contributed $4million to support the $9.7 million,three-year research project.

Storing solar energy

CSIRO is undertaking a solar energy storage research project to be conducted in Australia.

The project will develop cost-effective technology to capture, transfer and store solar thermal energy for use after the sun goes down (or in cloudyconditions), to create a reliable and constant supply of renewable energy.

By creating reliable, high-temperature storage systems, this project aims to make solar energy more attractive to energy-intensive industries and improve the dispatchability of power generated from solar energy.

The concept of solar energy storage is not new, but it has never been developed to its full potential.

Over the next three years, CSIRO scientists will research, develop and test storage and heat transfer media to find the most efficient and effective storage system for solar thermal energy.

Such developments will ensure a steady supply of solar energy to Australia’s electricity grid. Energy-intensive industries will also benefit from a reliable renewable heat and power source.

The ASI has contributed $4.3million to support the $8.6 million, three-year research project.