Proposed G3P3-USA system at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility. (Illustration by Cliff Ho and Kevin Albrecht)

Sandia wins $25 million DOE award to build next-generation CSP power plant

May 4, 2021 10:38 am Published by Kelly Sullivan

Sandia National Laboratories has won a $25 million award from The Department of Energy to build, test, and demonstrate a next-generation concentrating solar thermal power plant at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility.

The funding is part of the roughly $70 million, three-year-old DOE Generation 3 Concentrating Solar Power systems program, focusing on the development of next-generation concentrating solar systems that can achieve higher temperatures to accommodate advanced power cycles that are more efficient, thereby reducing the cost of the entire system.

Cliff Ho, project lead of the Sandia team responsible, said that the competition was unique compared to other DOE grants he’s worked on.

“It was sort of like an XPRIZE competition, with multiple teams competing to deliver a bold solution to a global problem,” Cliff said. “It was exciting.”