NEWS of TREC, CSP AND HVDC 2008

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Here are links to web pages containing news of TREC, the DESERTEC proposals, CSP or HVDC (or any combination of those things). On other pages, there is related news and an archive of news reports about TREC. News from 2007 (and 2006 and the later parts of 2005) can be found on the 2007 news page.

DESERTEC: Reports which make specific mention of TREC or the DESERTEC proposals.
CSP: Reports with a focus on CSP.
CSP-PROJECT: News of specific CSP projects.
CSP-FACTORY
HVDC: Reports with a focus on large-scale HVDC transmission grids or the creation of a Europe-wide or EUMENA-wide single market for electricity, or both..
CSP-PROCESS: The use of solar heat or electricity from CSP plants to power industrial processes, including the synthesis of fuels.
CPV: Reports about the use of PV in conjunction with the concentrating technique.
M denotes a contribution to the media by a member of TREC or TREC-UK.

AUGUST

Date	Area	Title	Source	See also
13	CSP	Worley weighs up $1b Pilbara solar plant	Sydney Morning Herald	Sydney Morning Herald (Environment), The Age, This is Money
11	CSP	Capstone To Make Turbines that Run on Solar Power	Renewable Energy World	EcoTalks
11	DESERTEC	MPs get behind desert power scheme	Building Sustainability
9	CSP	New dawn for energy market	The National
6	CSP	Plans for first CSP plant in Asia	Renewable Energy World
6	CSP	Fresnel Solar Collector system in service	Renewable Energy World
5	CSP	New Energy: The Middle East Perspective	New Energy News

JULY

Date	Area	Title	Source	See also	M
31	CPV	Competition heats up in concentrating solar firms	CNet
31	CPV	13 Startups working on Solar-Concentrating PV	Earth2Tech
31	CSP	Technologies shine on parabolic trough solar plants	Power Engineering
31	CSP-PROCESS	MIT researchers split water to store solar energy	CNet	Popular Mechanic
31	DESERTEC	Challenging 'voodoo' economics in the race for the best technology. This is an article by Polly Higgins of TREC-UK in the July 2008 issue (12) of Carbon2Share, published by Colin Challen MP. It is in three JPEG files: Section 1 (379 KB), Section 2 (270 KB), and Section 3 (341 KB). Click the '+' or 'enlarge' button to show each image full size.	Carbon2Share		M
31	DESERTEC	Tewfik Hasni (Algeria) and Calixte Jeuffrain (TREC-France) speak about the DESERTEC concept on French radio RFI (MP3, 4.6 MB, Les Visiteur de Jour, in French)	RFI		M
30	CPV	SolFocus builds out first phase of Spanish solar plant	Earth2Tech
30	CSP	Utah's Solar Fired Furnace to Power California for Less Than the Cost of Coal or Gas	Celsias
28	CSP	Solar baseload update	Climate Progress
28	CSP	Analysis: Roles and responsibilities in solar thermal	Business Intelligence- Middle East
28	CSP	Low-cost Solar Thermal Plants at Heart of Algerian-German Research Push	Vision
27	DESERTEC	Lighting up Europe from North America	New Energy News
25	CSP	Govt gets cracking on climate plan	Times of India
24	DESERTEC	Massive Saharan solar project could power $71 billion EU supergrid	TreeHugger
24	CSP	Solar Thermal Power Coming to a Boil	YubaNet
23	DESERTEC	Dr Gerhard Knies, Coordinator of TREC, is interviewed by Robin Lustig on BBC Radio 4, The World Tonight, 2008-07-23 (Audio RAM, 1.8 MB)	BBC		M
23	CSP	SHEC Labs Takes First for Most Efficient Solar Concentration	EcoGeek	Good Clean Tech
23	CSP	Solar power comes to the boil	Earth Policy Institute
23	DESERTEC	Solar power from Saharan sun could provide Europe's electricity, says EU	Guardian	Daily Mail, Telegraph
22	DESERTEC	Saharan sun to power European supergrid	Guardian
22	CSP	Solar thermal power coming to a boil	Earth Policy
22	CSP	New solar thermal plant buoys spanish investors	Planet Ark
20	DESERTEC	MEPs urge action on renewable energy	NewsBlaze
19	DESERTEC	Solar power in Europe (2008-07-19). This is a radio programme about the DESERTEC ideas on ABC Radio (Australia). It includes several sections of an interview with Polly Higgins of TREC-UK.	ABC Radio		M
17	DESERTEC	Gerry Wolff at TREC-UK on UfM's DESERTEC plans	BrightCove		M
17	CSP	Concentrated solar market a little more concentrated	Carbon Free
17	CSP	Big push for big solar	Carbon Free
16	CSP	Sopogy's MicroCSP solar farm breaks ground in Hawaii	Renewable Energy World	KHNL
15	CSP	Sopogy thinks small to make megawatts of solar power	CNet
14	CPV	MIT’s revolutionary new concentrated solar array	Inhabitat	MSNBC
14	DESERTEC	Brown backs "major investment" in solar energy	New Energy Focus
13	CSP	TNEB to buy solar power at Rs 3.15/kWh	The Hindu Business Line
13	DESERTEC	North Sea could be 'Gulf of future'	Press Association	New Energy Focus
11	CSP	The Southwest desert's real estate boom	CNN Money
10	CSP	Technology could streamline solar power
10	CSP	Solar thermal power just got hotter with linear Fresnel technology	Plenty
9	CSP	Concentrating solar power (approx. 8 minutes of streaming sound, DW-world.de, Deutsche Welle Radio, 2008-07-09). This is another audio piece about CSP by Naomi Fowler, including interviews with Polly Higgins of TREC-UK.	Deutsche Welle Radio		M
9	CSP	Florida Power & Light goal: 3 solar plants in 2009	Think South
7	CSP-PROJECT	Big Island solar farm to begin construction	Think Green Hawaii
5	CSP	California ballot: Betting on Big Solar	News Review (Sacramento)
4	CSP	200 MW Solar Thermal Power	Terraform Earth	EnviroMission
3	CSP	New Mexico Utilities Bonding Over Solar Power Project	earth2tech
3	CSP	A solar-powered economy: How solar thermal can replace coal, gas and oil	Renewable Energy World
2	CSP	Egyptian centre to push Middle East renewables	SciDev
2	CSP	US government agency reverses moratorium on solar power proposals	CNN Money	Review Journal
1	DESERTEC	Concentrated solar power plants in North Africa could supply Europe	Building Services Journal

JUNE

Date	Area	Title	Source	See also	M
30	CSP	Ausra's Las Vegas solar thermal plant comes online	CNet
29	CSP	Solar Grand Plans start answering basic questions	Miller McCune
27	CSP	Freezing the sun	The Economist
27	DESERTEC	Exploiter la richesse des déserts	Le Temps
26	CSP	Storing the sun: Molten salt provides highly efficient thermal storage	Renewable Energy World
25	CSP	FPL unveils plans for three Florida solar plants	Reuters
20	DESERTEC	Bringing Down The Cost of Energy	News Blaze		M
19	CSP	Top Seven at Intersolar	Burn Some Daylight
17	CSP	Islands in the sun	The Engineer
16	CSP	SCHOTT Solar plans 1GW capacity for CSP by end 2009 and for PV by 2012	PV Tech
16	CPV	Xtreme Energetics’ ultra-efficient, pretty solar systems catch HP’s eye	The Industry Standard
16	CSP	Queensland and Victoria's push for Solar Energy heats up	Solar Xpress
13	CSP	Clean desert power - (4.43 minutes streaming sound, Free Speech Radio News, 2008-06-13). This piece about CSP by Naomi Fowler includes interviews with Polly Higgins of TREC-UK. Download file (MP3, 4.4 MB).	Free Speech Radio Network		M
13	CSP	Clean desert power (audio segment)	Free Speech Radio News
13	CSP	Pics: Solar thermal demo plant rises in Israeli desert	Wired Science
13	CSP-PROJECT	PG&E inks deal with Martifer to buy 106.8 megawatts of solar-biofuel hybrid power	Venture Beat	Renewable Energy World, Reuters, Treehugger
12	CSP-PROJECT	Israel Site for California Solar Power Test	Planet Ark
11	CSP	Future of solar cells	Engineering Studies
11	CSP	Can the Canaries win the race for power survival?	Canary Green
7	CSP	Solar Thermal Energy: A New Way Forward	Science Tip Guides
6	CSP	Africa’s deserts could supply solar electricity to continent	Majimbo Kenya	Africa Science News
5	CSP	Concentrated solar power has a bright future	Environmental Finance
5	CSP	Dishing out new power	Herald Sun
5	CSP	Concentrated solar power has a bright future	Environmental Finance
4	CSP	Centre for Low Carbon Technology in Buildings set to fight climate change	Azobuild
4	CSP	DOE invests in solar thermal	CalFinder
4	CSP	In the tower of sun	Carbon Free
3	CPV	With transparent HP tech, pretty solar buildings?	CNet
3	CSP	Spain pioneering with solar thermal power	Rhein
3	CSP	eSolar scores 245MW solar deal in SoCal	earth2tech	GroovyGreen, Cnet, Reuters, Green Tech Media
1	HVDC	The New Breeds of HVDC	Utility Automation and Engineering
1	CSP	Ontario Wal-Mart Canada plan venture to provide Menova Energy with up to $5.9 million for solar demonstration on roof of Wal-Mart Store (pdf)	Power Spar (press release)

MAY

Date	Area	Title	Source	See also	M
29	CSP	Sopogy scores $9M funding from Omidyar, Hawaiian investors	Earth2Tech
28	CSP	SCHOTT inaugurates solar receiver plant	Renewable Energy World
27	CSP	Solar thermal technology gets its own conference at Intersolar 2008	Refrige
26	DESERTEC	A bright idea, harnessing desert sun	New Europe
25	DESERTEC	Edition of the "Analysis" programme about solar power on the BBC World Service. (MP3, 7.8 MB, May 2008). This programme contains interviews with Gerry Wolff, Coordinator of TREC-UK, and with Belen Gallego, Director of CSP Today and a member of TREC-UK. The interviewer is Monica Whitlock	BBC World Service		M
23	CSP	Google, Chevron build mirrors in desert to beat coal with solar	Bloomberg
22	CSP	Concentrating solar to reach 18 gigawatts by 2020	GreenTech Media
21	DESERTEC	DESERTEC – Vers un plan solaire français pour la Méditerranée	NaturaVox
20	CSP	Solar Islands: A new concept for low-cost solar energy at very large scale	The Oil Drum
20	CSP	Al Gore: Why is there no solar power in the land of the sun?	Globe
19	CSP	Harnessing sun's energy, at half the price	RedOrbit
16	CSP	Google.org Contributes to $115M Funding for BrightSource	Sustainable Business
16	CPV	A cool trick for solar cells	Technology Review
15	CPV	IBM's "liquid metal" promises concentrated PV breakthrough	Business Green
14	CSP	Google.Org doubles down on solar thermal power	Wired
14	CSP	BrightSource gets $115 million in new funding	Market Watch	CarbonFree, Renewable Energy World
13	CSP	FOCUS: Algeria eyes solar energy exports to Europe	Zawya
13	CSP	The cost of utility-scale solar: PV vs. CST	Renewable Energy World
13	CSP	The cost of utility-scale solar: PV vs. CST	Renewable Energy World
13	DESERTEC	Bright Idea (Click '+' with Firefox to enlarge the image or click the 'enlarge' button with Internet Explorer)	Healthy Organic Living (via TREC)
12	CSP-PROJECT	Sener and Masdar announce joint venture to develop concentrating solar power plants in the 'Sunbelt'	AME Info
10	CSP	Solar Energy Could Power U.S. Many Times Over	Ecolocalizer
10	CSP	Solar Power goes to Extremes for 5cents per kwh	Clean Technica
9	CSP	Simple, cheap solar power from MIT	Sustainable Transition Blog	Media Newswire, MIT News, Green Guard
9	CSP	On the rise: Solar thermal power and the fight against global warming (PDF)	California Environment	California Progress
8	CSP-PROJECT	ACCIONA Energy will build two solar thermal power plants in Cordoba (Spain) totaling 100 MW with an investment of almost euros 500 million	Acciona
8	CSP	Report: Large-scale solar power plants could power nation, combat global warming and create thousands of jobs	Environment America
7	DESERTEC	The Weekly Carboholic: powering Europe from the Sahara	Scholars and Rogues
6	CSP	Interview with Gerry Wolff on Network Africa, BBC World Service (MP3, 3.2 MB). This is an interview conducted by Peter Lewenstein and broadcast throughout Africa on the 6th of May 2008, 06:30 GMT.	BBC World Service
6	CSP	Can solar energy save humanity?	The Trumpet
5	CSP	DOE backs $60 million for concentrating solar power	Matter Network

APRIL

Date	Area	Title	Source	See also	M
30	DESERTEC	Is Desert Solar Power the Solution to Europe's Energy Crisis?	Spiegel Online
30	CSP	SkyFuel gets $17 million in venture funding	New Mexico Business Weekly
29	CSP	We're off to see the wizard - Storing energy using ammonia	The Oil Drum
27	DESERTEC	Tapping solar for places where the sun don’t shine	Miller McCune
27	CSP	Energy storage coming to a power grid near you	CNET
27	CSP	U.S. suspends new solar projects on public land, reactions mixed	Earth2Tech	NY Times
23	CSP	Nevada No. 2 in solar power development	Review Journal
23	CSP	Solar Energy in Egypt - Joining California & India with commercial scale hybrid power plants	Eco World
23	HVDC	In search of the missing piece in the renewables jigsaw	Business Green
23	CSP	Harnessing the sun: The future of green jobs	The Washington Independent
22	CSP	11 Solar thermal companies powering up	Earth2Tech
21	DESERTEC	Solar Power From Africa: The best investment the EU can make	Solve Climate
21	DESERTEC	Deserts to power the world	NewsBlaze
18	CSP	Stirling engines meet solar power in the desert	CleanTech
17	DESERTEC	Deserts could provide world's energy using concentrated solar power	African Energy News Review
15	CSP	New Ways to Store Solar Energy for Nighttime and Cloudy Days	NY Times
15	CSP	The best technology to protect the earth	Grist
15	CSP	Concentrating solar power with storage (CSPwS): Foundation of the renewable grid in the west	Solar South West
15	CSP	The race between two forms of sunlight	Dot Earth
15	CSP	New ways to store solar energy for nighttime and cloudy days	New York Times
15	CSP	Concentrated solar power: Another great new-old idea	Speculist	Uncommon Sense
14	CSP	Concentrated solar thermal power — a core climate solution	Climate Progress
14	CSP	The technology that will save humanity	Salon.com
12	CSP-PROJECT	Mega solar: the world’s 13 biggest solar thermal energy projects	EcoWorldly
12	HVDC	PowerGrid’s undersea line to link India, Sri Lanka	The Financial Express
12	CSP	Concentrating solar collectors can gather a lot of energy	Pittsburgh Tribune Reviews
11	CSP	Eskom going solar	Shed It
11	CSP	Do we need a massive government program to generate breakthroughs to make solar energy cost-competitive?	GristMill
11	CSP	America funding Persian Gulf renewable energy investments	Daily Kos
10	CSP-PROJECT	Solar Energy \| Carrizo Energy solar farm	Renewable Energy Development
8	CSP-PROJECT	1,000 Acres of giant solar mirrors to rise in Israel's Desert, finally	Solve Climate
8	CSP-PROJECT	Ahead of the curve? Fresnel technology in CSP	Renewable Energy World
4	HVDC	ABB Technology gives offshore wind farms new capabilities	Electric Net
4	CSP-PROJECT	Bright Source of solar thermal power	CarbonFree	Renewable Energy World, TreeHugger, Sustainable Business
3	CSP	Concentrating Solar Power could generate 200 billion dollars in investment by 2020	Solar Daily
2	CSP	Solel to build $140M manufacturing facility for solar power in Spain	Solel
2	CSP	Concentrating on the important things - solar thermal power	The Oil Drum
2	CPV	Emcore wins $4.6m follow-on order for CPV receiver assemblies	Semiconductor Today	CNN Money
1	CSP	New Report Finds that Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Could Amass up to $200 Billion in Investment Globally for Installations Through 2020	PR Inside
1	DESERTEC	Desert power: A solar renaissance	Geotimes
1	CSP-PROJECT	PG&E signs contracts with BrightSource Energy for up to 900 megawatts of solar thermal power	Yahoo	CleanTech, Reuters, Meta Efficient, IT Spot
1	CSP	Parabolic troughs: CSP's quiet achiever (PDF, 534 KB)	Renewable Energy Focus, (March/April 2008, pp 46-50). This an article by Stewart Taggart, Coordinator of TREC-Australia and a member of TREC-UK		M
1	CSP	Letter of the month - Fuels for the future	Geographical, magazine of the Royal Geographical Society via TREC

MARCH

Date	Area	Title	Source	See also
31	CSP	Concentrating Solar Power - Technology, cost, and markets	GreenTech Media
31	HVDC	EU's Piebalgs says grid infrastructure needed quickly for offshore wind energy	Forbes
31	HVDC	Power Grid Corp signs loan agreements with WB, ADB	India Info Online	Economic Times
29	CSP	Concentrating Solar Power - Why CSPs can help meet the nation's demand for energy	Green Chip Stocks
29	CSP	Concentrating solar power in brief	NewsBlaze
28	CSP	Mirror, mirror ... solar energy in the European limelight page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 Scanned image available only. (To enlarge the image of each page, click '+' with Firefox or the 'enlarge' button with Internet Explorer).	Dr Henner Gladen, European Sustainable Energy Review, Issue 1, 2008, pages 28-32.
28	CSP-PROJECT	Will South Africa lead the solar energy revolution?	Environmental News Network
28	HVDC	Kergord Valley lands role as wind farm's power centre	Shetland Today
27	HVDC	E.ON, ABB developing windfarm project in Germany	Reliable Plant
26	HVDC	ABB to connect German offshore wind farms to power grid	Automation
24	CSP	Florida utility jumps into California solar market	Green Wombat	Reuters
22	CSP	Sener and Masdar announce joint venture to develop concentrating solar power plants in the “Sunbelt”	Masdar UAE
20	CSP	Low-cost solar thermal plants at heart of Algerian-German research push 4	Renewable Energy World
19	CSP-PROJECT	Solar Energy - Mojave Solar Park (CSP)	Renewable Energy Development	Solar Industry
19	HVDC	Nexans wins 150 mln euro power cable contract	Reuters	Nexans, Hemscott, Norway Post
19	HVDC	SSE subsidiary consults on Scotland-Shetland transmission line	Trading Markets
19	CSP	Ausra: solar power around the clock, enough for 90% of U.S. grid	TreeHugger
18	CSP	Desert sunrise: Concentrating solar power makes worldwide progress	Renewable Energy
17	CSP	World’s largest 38500-meal solar kitchen in India	Inhabitat
16	HVDC	India-Sri Lanka power transfer project feasibility report soon	The Hindu - Business Line
14	CPV	More than 200 industry leaders to attend the Concentrated Photovoltaic Summit 08 in Madrid	CPV Today via TREC
12	CSP	Torresol Energy, new joint compay by SENER and Masdar	Individual.com	Greentech, AME, CNET, Treehugger, Emirates 24/7
10	CPV	SolFocus aims to beat coal with solar concentrators	EcoGeek
7		Solar Millennium raises $78 million	Renewable Energy
6	CSP	Rising fuel prices make the budding field of solar thermal technology more viable	International Herald Tribune
4		Solar energy has bright future — if Senate acts	Senator John Ensign
4		SCHOTT breaks ground in New Mexico	Renewable Energy	International Herald Tribune, PV Tech
3		Thermal power heats up Nevada	Time
2		Go solar, presenter says	Taipei Times
1	DESERTEC	Concentrating solar power and the proposed HVDC supergrid (PDF, 397 KB, Science in Parliament, Spring 2008, pp. 34-36). This is a briefing report and notes prepared following a "breakfast" meeting of the Scientific and Parliamentary Committee in the House of Commons on 2007-11-13. The briefing report is by Gerry Wolff and Neil Crumpton and the notes are by Professor Peter Simpson, Secretary of the Committee.	UK Parliament

FEBRUARY

Date	Area	Title	Source	See also	M
29	CSP	Solar without the Panels	Technology Review	Gizmodo
29	CSP	Concentrated Solar Power and energy storage	Leonardo Energy
29	DESERTEC	Mega solar concentrators	EcoWorld		M
28	DESERTEC-PROJECT	Arizona-a brave new green solar world	Gather	The Varsity
28	DESERTEC	DESERTEC proposals debated in UK Parliament (ASF file, Windows Media, 44.4 MB). This is a video recording of a speech by Dr Howard Stoate MP and a reply by Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks MP about the DESERTEC proposals, in the House of Commons. There is also a Hansard transcipt of the debate.	UK Parliament	Arabian Business, CarbonFree
27	CSP-PROJECT	Eskom looks to the rising sun	Mail & Guardian Online
27	DESERTEC	Desertec. Isn't the sun in the desert ?	Shake Your Planet
26	DESERTEC	A solar powered world?	Environmental News Network
26	CSP	Green Britain gears up for climate change battle	Renewable Energy World
26	DESERTEC	Bold energy plan to be debated in parliament	NewsBlaze		M
25	DESERTEC	DESERTEC: solar energy from MENA to Europe	Arab Environment Watch
25	CSP	Sun shines on solar power	Engineer Live
24		Ray of hope?	World Architecture News
22	CSP-PROJECT	Nevada Solar One generator dedicated	Forbes	U.S.News, Clean Technica, EcoWorld, Business Energy Review
22	CSP	Solar thermal power poised for prime time	World Watch Institute
21	CSP	The power of concentration	Economist
21	CSP-PROJECT	Abengoa, APS to build 280-MW solar plant in Arizona	Energy Current	BusinessWire, Phoenix Business Journal, Green Energy News, Arizona Republic, Sustainable Business Green Energy News, Business Week, Inhabitat
20	CSP	Smoke and mirrors or a blueprint for clean energy?	World Architecture News
20	HVDC	Siemens commissions 3000 MW HVDC transmission system in China	Power Engineering	FinChannel, Power Online
20		Renewable energy: desert dreams	Time Magazine
19	DESERTEC	Clean Power from the Deserts	Oil Depletion Analysis Centre		M
17	DESERTEC	Hello Sunshine (PDF, 2.1 MB, Geographical, March 2008)	Geographical		M
16	DESERTEC	Saharan Solar Power	EcoWorld
16		U.S. has more sun but Europe has more solar power…for now	ZDNet Blogs
15		Salmond push for power 'supergrid'	Scotsman	The Herald, Scottish Government
15		Modern investors turn into sun worshippers	Daily Telegraph
15		Solar power comes of age ((JPG, 1.3 MB, Carbon2Share, Issue 10, Spring 2008—newsletter produced by Colin Challen MP). This is a slightly updated version of Win-win: concentrating solar power published in Greenpeace Business in July 2007. To enlarge the image, click the '+' with Firefox or the 'enlarge' button with Internet Explorer.)	Carbon2Share
14	CSP	Cool Earth Solar generates power with 'solar balloons'	CNet	Seeker Blog, Smart Planet