Greenhouse gas analysis of solar-thermal electricity generation

Solar-thermal electricity generation contributes to climate change because it incurs the emission of greenhouse gases during the provision of services and the production of materials needed for the construction and operation of solar power plants. These greenhouse gas costs (GGC) can be determined using either material inventories in physical units or monetary cost breakdowns. Solar-only plants employing parabolic troughs, central receivers or parabolic dishes exhibit GGC around 90 g CO2-e/kWh(eJ). However, this figure varies with the plant size and also depends strongly on whether a fossil-fuelled backup or a heat storage system is utilised in order to increase the plant's capacity factor. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.