Solar Southwest Initiative

Among CSP industry insiders and observers there are some disagreements about
whether a market for CSP with Storage already exists or whether this
market will have to be created. If the need for market design is accepted as truth,
there are additional disagreements about HOW such a market should be
created. Finally, a minority might believe that bringing up the issue
of storage burdens the process of selling the CSP plant to utilities,
hoping to sell CSP under current market conditions as exclusively a daytime peak-shaving technology if powered only by the sun. The latter group may believe that hybridization with natural gas provides the only economical means at
present to output power independent of real-time solar input.

The perspective of Solar Southwest Initiative is that developing a market segment for CSPwS is crucial if we are to speed the commercialization of CSPwS. The carbon emissions reduction goals of the State of California and the Western Climate Initiative alone suggest that CSPwS will be integral in reducing the carbon footprint of the
Western grid. The function of the SSI is to create an online and real-world multilateral clearinghouse between stakeholders to discuss the practicality of using CSPwS to achieve GHG reduction goals as well as business and policy issues independent of climate concerns.

In this forum or its offline counterparts, participants will address general issues related to market design for CSPwS. Keep in mind that there are sub-forums
discussing sub-issues such as stimulating demand, technologies, transmission, financing CSPwS, and policy framework. This forum is more generally about the
desirability of the SSI's work, who are the key players in this work,
how the SSI can be most effectively structured. While, the assumptions
of those who believe that discussion of storage is premature run
counter to the SSI's purpose, on this forum these views should be
discussed and considered for their merits.