. I presented at a northern African renewables conference in December of 2022 at the organizers’ request. I’ve plucked at the surface of parts of the huge continent. And so, I approach this subject humbly..
Why CSP was modeled was an interesting question given its failure to deliver on its promises compared to photovoltaic over the past 30 years. The study’s argument is that in very hot countries, photovoltaic underperforms, giving an edge to CSP. Perhaps. Unsurprisingly, the study found that the cheapest system which would meet the demand profiles had a mix of renewable generation technologies and grid storage toward the high end of the modeled ranges. The critical excess electricity production that would require curtailment of generation sources was reduced, but not eliminated. As a side note, the study assessed the potential for hydrogen generation with just the excess electricity in the scenarios.