TY - JOUR A1 - Lilliestam, Johan A1 - Ollier, Lana A1 - Labordena Mir, Mercè A1 - Pfenninger, Stefan A1 - Thonig, Richard T1 - The near- to mid-term outlook for concentrating solar power BT - mostly cloudy, chance of sun JF - Energy sources. B, Economics, planning and policy N2 - The history of concentrating solar power (CSP) is characterized by a boom-bust pattern caused by policy support changes. Following the 2014-2016 bust phase, the combination of Chinese support and several low-cost projects triggered a new boom phase. We investigate the near- to mid-term cost, industry, market and policy outlook for the global CSP sector and show that CSP costs have decreased strongly and approach cost-competitiveness with new conventional generation. Industry has been strengthened through the entry of numerous new companies. However, the project pipeline is thin: no project broke ground in 2019 and only four projects are under construction in 2020. The only remaining large support scheme, in China, has been canceled. Without additional support soon creating a new market, the value chain may collapse and recent cost and technological advances may be undone. If policy support is renewed, however, the global CSP sector is prepared for a bright future. KW - concentrating solar power KW - technological learning KW - value chain analysis KW - energy policy KW - industry development Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/15567249.2020.1773580 SN - 1556-7249 SN - 1556-7257 VL - 16 IS - 1 SP - 23 EP - 41 PB - Taylor & Francis CY - London [u.a.] ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gamarra, Ana Rosa A1 - Lechón, Yolanda A1 - Escribano, Gonzalo A1 - Lilliestam, Johan A1 - Lázaro, Lara A1 - Caldés, Natàlia T1 - Assessing dependence and governance as value chain risks BT - natural gas versus concentrated solar power plants in Mexico JF - Environmental impact assessment review N2 - Despite geopolitics play a pivotal role in the energy sector, geopolitical aspects are often not considered in the quantitative assessment models aimed at supporting the energy investment decision-making process. To address this issue, this work proposes an Extended Multi-regional Input-Output model (EMRIO) that incorporates import dependence and governance along the value chain. As case study, two alternative energy investments in Mexico – a Natural Gas Power plant (NG) and a Concentrated Solar Power plant (CSP) – are assessed. The method quantifies the geographical diversification of suppliers and the quality of governance. The assessment of the case study shows that the supply chain of the CSP plant includes more countries and with better governance levels than the supply chain of the NG power plant. That means, a priori, that the supply risks of investing in CSP power plants will be lower, as will suppliers' endogenous geopolitical risk. However, a sensitivity analysis considering different providers of the solar plant components reveals that CSP plant value chain could also entail similar or even higher governance risks levels as the NG plant. The scenario where China provides some of the components entails a much higher governance risks, even higher than the NG base case. In consequence, we have proved that the method proposed allows the identification of hidden geopolitical risks that would otherwise go unnoticed. This paper enlarges the existing knowledge on assessment methodologies for energy policy decision-support by measuring diversification and imports dependence from countries with different levels of governance along the whole value chain. KW - value chain analysis KW - dependence analysis KW - governance analysis KW - concentrated solar power KW - multi-regional input-output KW - iintegrated sustainability assessment Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2021.106708 SN - 0195-9255 VL - 93 IS - 106708 PB - Elsevier Science CY - Amsterdam ER -