Dive Brief:

• The amount of generating capacity from solar thermal power projects will double by the end of this year as several large, utility-scale projects come online, the Energy Information Administration said.
• Chief among the new plants are Abengoa's Solana plant, a 250-megawatt (MW) parabolic trough plant in Gila Bend, Arizona which began commercial operation in October. The other is BrightSource's Ivanpah plant, a 91-MW power tower plant project that will be online by the end of the year.
• Abengoa's project includes integrated thermal storage using molten salt; BrightSource's project does not have a storage component.

Dive Insight:

EIA expects 1,257 MW of solar thermal capacity additions in 2013 and 2014, with more on the drawing board for 2015 and 2016. However, solar thermal is expected to be only 4% of total capacity addition in 2013 and 2014 as solar thermal additions are far outpaced by photovoltaic installations.