CSIRO believes that power stations should be offered efficient and effective alternatives to fossil fuels. The aim of this solar steam project is to create solar-generated steam as efficiently and effectively as state of the art power stations without the environmental cost of using fossil fuel energy sources.

The solar steam project has two major advantages:

• the technology can be easily integrated into existing power plants/steam generators; and
• it is using a clean, renewable, sustainable power source – the sun.

Using steam to generate electricity is the basis for the production of most of the world’s electricity. Traditionally, the steam has been generated by the combustion of fossil fuels.

CSIRO’s National Solar Energy Centre in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, is home to two large-scale test facilities for solar tower research.

To date solar steam based electricity generation has been limited to lower temperatures and pressures when compared to current fossil fuelled electricity power stations. This project will break new ground by researching a wide range of temperature and solar steam technology that could revolutionise fossil-fuel power plants.

Fact sheet: Advanced steam generating receivers for high concentration solar collectors (PDF 296KB)