Half of Indian Concentrating Solar Power Projects Delayed
India's impressively ambitious plans to expand solar power in the nation are in for a setback. Renewable Energy World reports that 320 MW of concentrating solar power projects previously scheduled to be completed between February and May 2013 will be delayed.
Behind the setback is a shortage of heat-transfer fluid, due to order backlog at the two US suppliers being used on the five projects in question.
Furthermore, of the 10 projects original scheduled for completion in the first half of next year, totaling $1.4 billion in investment, three are to be scrapped entirely.
Concentrating solar power projects generally use mirrors or other solar collectors to concentrate the heat of the sun onto a portion of the collector containing a fluid, heating that fluid to generate steam and create electricity from it.