§16234 Concentrating Solar Power Research Program

Summary

The Secretary must run a research and development program to see if concentrating solar power (CSP) can make hydrogen and to study ways to make both hydrogen and electricity together. The program should use existing facilities when practical. It must work on shared technologies for electricity and hydrogen, test thermochemical cycles at temperatures CSP can reach, study materials for those cycles, look at cogeneration of solar electric power and photosynthetic-based hydrogen, study system designs and costs, and coordinate with the Next Generation Nuclear Plant Project (part B of subchapter VI) on high-temperature materials, thermochemical cycles, and economic issues. The Secretary must review the differing guidance from the National Research Council’s 2000 report "Renewable Power Pathways: A Review of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Renewable Energy Programs" and later DOE-funded reviews. An assessment of CSP’s likely impact on electricity must be done before or with the budget for fiscal year 2008. Not later than 5 years after August 8, 2005, the Secretary must give Congress a report on the economic and technical potential for electricity or hydrogen from CSP, including whether a pilot demonstration facility suitable for commercial production is feasible.