ECOLOGIC NAVAL POWER PLANT INSTALLED ON BOARD MARITIME TRANSPORT VESSEL

Сажетак. Историјски гледано, употреба биомасе у облику дрвета, као примарног и готово јединог извора енергије, претходила је почетку коришћења фосилних горива. За разлику од земаља у транзицији које као извор топлотне енергије имају биомасу, развијене земље производе значајну количину топлотне енергије из биомасе засноване на начелима одрживог развоја и одговорног коришћења енергетских ресурса. У дрвној индустрији користе се модерне биоенергане за производњу електричне и топлотне енергије, као и технолошке паре неопходне за производне ланце у погонима дрвне индустрије. Такође, у домаћинствима, системима регионалног централизованог гријања, когенерацији и тригенерацији, уграђују се све више постројења и опрема са високим технолошким достигнућима. Предност коришћења биомасе у односу на друге видове обновљивих извора енергије је могућност изградње електрана са стабилном производњом енергије (топлотне и електричне) на мјестима која одговарају конзуму, за разлику од других облика обновљивих извора енергије који траже изградњу постројења на мјесту настанка енергије. При томе, број сати рада који се очекују у зависности од технологија за истовремени рад свих постројења у GWh за електране на чврсту биомасу

Kicking the Oil Addiction

Clean and low-carbon energy sources and technologies have emerged as a critical driver in delivering the energy transition and achieving net zero-carbon emissions. All energy sources and power systems produce greenhouse gases (GHGs) and hence they contribute to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and resultant climate change besides contributing to other negative environmental impacts. Energy sustainability remains a major challenge globally due to current heavy reliance on depletable and polluting fossil fuels for most of global energy needs. This study examines the energy transition strategies and proposes a roadmap for sustainable energy transition for sustainable energy planning and grid electricity generation and supply in wake of commitments made by the world community to the Paris Agreement aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting the rise in global average temperature to 2oC and preferably 1.5oC above the preindustrial level and realisation of the sustainable development goal of the United Nations. The sustainable transition strategies typically consist of three major technological changes namely, energy savings on the demand side, generation efficiency at production level and fossil fuel substitution by various renewable energy sources and low carbon non-renewable sources like nuclear power and carbon emission reduction strategies like carbon capture and sequestration and a conversion from high carbon fossil fuels like coal and oil to natural gas which remains the cleanest fossil fuel. The study demonstrated that decentralised generation with application of both demand side management and behind the meter management (BTM) strategies are effective measures to increase the use of renewable energy resources which are often locally available leading to higher uptake of renewable energy sources and conversion of consumers to prosumers making the transition economically sustainable. Waste to energy options have a significant potential to contribute to the energy transition e.g. use of biowaste for biogas production, slaughterhouse waste biodigestion for biogas and electricity generation and waste treatment and disposal, waste heat recovery from used geothermal for extra power generation and reinjection to improve the reservoir sustainability and use of bagasse and sugarcane trash for grid-based power production in sugar factories. Therefore, domestic, and industrial scale waste to energy conversion can enhance the economic sustainability of waste management process by offering useful energy substitutes for fossil fuels and enhanced energy security through decentralisation of generation. Whereas sustainable development has social, economic, and environmental pillars, energy sustainability is best analysed by five-dimensional approach consisting of environmental, economic, social, technical, and institutional/political sustainability to determine energy resource sustainability. The study recommends the adoption of sustainability-based planning for energy development and optimisation of electricity generation and supply where energy sources are analysed and ranked based on the five dimensions of energy sustainability instead of Least Cost Development Planning (LCDP) often applied by many countries. On this basis, the sustainable energy transition and optimisation of power generation will rely on both renewable and non-renewable energy since both have an important role in the realisation of the energy transition plans even though the desire is to shift entirely to renewable energy sources by the year 2050. The sustainability of various energy sources was assessed with hydrogen, wind, solar, sugarcane bagasse and cane trash, biogas and ocean energy technologies proving to be among the most sustainable renewable energy and sustainable sources. The study also examined various power plants and energy conversion systems for electricity generation in terms of their specific role and potential in grid-based power generation with hydro power plants, geothermal, nuclear, fuel cells, raking high on performance indicators like load and capacity factors making them ideal for base load power supply. Diesel engines and gas turbines using cogeneration and dual cycle systems powered by cleaner fuels like natural gas, hydrogen and biomethane will play an important role in supplying intermediate and peak load power. The study highlighted enabling technologies and concepts in the energy transition which include decentralisation of generation, cogeneration and trigeneration, demand side and behind the meter management microgrids and smart grid technologies, energy and generation planning and optimisation models, energy storage, electrification of transport and use of electric cars as decentralised electricity sources through the V2X technologies like the G2V and V2G, and carbon capture and sequestration for emissions reduction in fossil fuel power plants making them more sustainable. The study classifies electric vehicles as distributed power plants and variable loads with extensive use of energy storage while sugar cane bagasse is noted as a sustainable energy resource for power generation by cane sugar factories by application of more efficient grid connected cogeneration power plants. The study identified long project gestation period as the main factor limiting nuclear and geothermal energy deployment and recommends the adoption of modularised wellhead generators and small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) as a solution to enhance exploitation of these sustainable energy and technologies through faster deployment with high degree of flexibility. Biogas and biomethane demonstrated significant potential as renewable energy sources for power generation and substitute fuels in all applications of fossil natural gas. The study recommends sustainability-based planning for the energy sector and power generation and use of both renewable and non-renewable but sustainable sources of energy, adoption of smart energy concept by all sectors and investment in energy technology and infrastructure development for hydrogen and other promising energy sources like ocean thermal, wave and tidal energy and the conversion of the transition from the traditional to smart grid systems and a shift from centralised to decentralised power generation. Since the transport sector accounts for a significant portion of the global greenhouse gas emissions, electrification of the transport sector and coupling with the power sector is a key strategy recommended for the transition with the smart grid and microgrids playing an enabling role. Since energy sources and generation technologies have associated emissions occurring at different sections of the lifecycle, the use of lifecycle costs and emissions are helpful in long term energy and generation planning which demonstrate that renewable sources and nuclear are the most sustainable when analysed within the five dimensions of energy sustainability, but with the non-renewable sources playing a critical role as dispatchable sources for sustainable grid power generation, while the smart grids and use of energy storage can increase the uptake of variable renewables to as high as 95% to 100% up from a low of 20-25% uptake of variable renewables with the traditional grid. This will significantly help the world in achieving the global emissions and climate targets as. stipulated in the Paris Agreement as well as the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Graphical Abstract The overall objective of the study was to provide solutions to build global energy systems based on renewable and sustainable energy resources and optimise power generation and consumption by use of sustainable energy resources and generation technologies based on the five dimensions of energy sustainability. A sustainable energy system should intergrade electricity and other sectors through smart electricity grids, smart gas grids and smart heat grids as demonstrated below.

Environmental degradation and depletion of natural resources make us think about how we can get electricity and heat from renewable sources. This article discusses the theoretical foundations and characteristics of RES, analyzes foreign experience and Russian achievements in the organization and development of RES. The analysis showed that on a global scale, the key to energy policy is the transition from environmentally friendly fuels to clean renewable energy sources. Renewable energy sources account for more than a quarter (26%) of global electricity production. Over the past 20 years, the world’s electricity production based on renewable energy has increased more than 10 times, solar and wind energy are developing. Thanks to comprehensive policy measures, investments in research and development in the field of alternative energy in Europe, the USA, etc., renewable energy technology has become widespread. Thanks to technological advances in this area, these countries are currently facing a reduction in the cost of electricity generated using renewable energy sources. Despite the world experience, the obvious advantages of renewable energy sources (inexhaustibility of energy resources, environmental friendliness, lack of a fuel component in the cost of energy produced) and their huge potential in Russia, the development of unconventional energy has not been adequately developed. The share of RES in electricity production in the country is 0.2%

The utilization of the electricity storage into batteries system is increasing. Most batteries are connected at the point in the network where the power of renewable energy sources is produced. These battery storage systems serve primarily to power electricity to households. They are most often used in cooperation with renewable energy sources, especially photovoltaic power plants. When installing renewable sources without using battery storage in distribution networks, there are several problems in the production of electricity from renewable sources. At a time of low power consumption and high electricity generation at the point of connection of renewable energy sources, a change in power flow occurs. The power generated from the sources flows into the distribution network or up to the superior network. If a distribution company installed battery storage at the point of connection, the power from renewable sources would not flow to the rest of the distribution system and would be stored on that distribution network node. Once the capacity size has been correctly determined at a given node, the distribution company could benefit from such solution. The distribution company could lease the capacity of the batteries to customers who have the renewable energy sources to store their produced energy or could cover part of the electricity consumption at the time of lack of production from the renewable energy sources. The paper deals with this issue, the location of battery storage is simulated on a standardized distribution network.

Research is being conducted under United States Department of Energy (DOE) Contract DE-AC21-86MC21023 to develop a new type of coal-fired plant for electric power generation. This new type of plant--called a Second-Generation or Advanced Pressurized Circulating Fluidized Bed Combustion (APCFB) plant--offers the promise of efficiencies greater than 45% (HHV), with both emissions and a cost of electricity that are significantly lower than conventional pulverized-coal-fired plants with scrubbers. The APCFB plant incorporates the partial gasification of coal in a carbonizer, the combustion of carbonizer char in a pressurized circulating fluidized bed boiler (PCFB), and the combustion of carbonizer syngas in a topping combustor to achieve gas turbine inlet temperatures of 2300 F and higher. A conceptual design was previously prepared for this new type of plant and an economic analysis presented, all based on the use of a Siemens Westinghouse W501F gas turbine with projected carbonizer, PCFB, and topping combustor performance data. Having tested these components at the pilot plant stage, the referenced conceptual design is being updated to reflect more accurate performance predictions together with the use of the more advanced Siemens Westinghouse W501G gas turbine and a conventional 2400 psig/1050 F/1050 F/2-1/2 in. steam turbine. This report describes the updated plant which is projected to have an HHV efficiency of 48% and identifies work completed for the October 2001 through September 2002 time period.

In the last decades use of energy on the global level has been increased exponentially. In the global ranges participation of fossil fuels in primary energy consumption in 2019 was 84,32%., which was one of the reasons for the ncreased interest for renewable energy sources, and secone one is gobal combating climate changes. Paris agreement (bellow the level of 2,0оC). It is especially important to emphasize that the European Union in its strategic plans is going in the direction of decarbonization of society by 2050 and is trying to impose itself as a world leader in new technologies, energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources. The holder of the electric power sector of the Republic of Srpska is „Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske", which is organized as a mixed holding. It includes the thermal power plants Gacko (300 MW, lignite) and Ugljevik (300 MW, brown coal), along with their associated coal mines, and three hydropower plants on Trebišnjica (314 MW), Drina (315 MW) and Vrbas (110 MW), and four small hydropower plants. Beside of the state company in Republic of Srpska, thermal power plant Stanari (300 MW), which is private ownership, also producing electric energy. The same company is the owner of the concesion on Stanari coal mine. Beside of that, some private owned renewable energy plants also producing electric energy, and which excercize incentives for that, 16 small hydro power plants (40,82 MW), and according to data from 2018 there were 48 small and big solar electric plants. Production of coal thermal power plants in 2016 in Republic of Srpska was 4,8 TWh, while electricity production from hydro power plants was 2,5 TWh. One of general characteristics of electric power sector is non-adequate strategic planning, slow pace of reforms, and thanking to electric power sector, economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the energy most inefficient and carbon most intensive in Europe. Heat energy in Republic of Srpska is mostly used in the households, which makes around 76% of the final consumprion of heat. District heating systems in Republic of Srpska exists strictly in the urban areas or some parts of the urban areas. According to available data around 40.000 of the appartments are connected to district heating systems, which is around 2,3 million of m2 and 460.000 m2 of thebussines users. They are supplied by 12 district heating systems organized as public enterprises. Taking in to consideration long-term goal of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and therefore Republic of Srpska is a full membership in European Union, it should be emphasized that renewable energy sources are very high on its priorities lists. Hydro energy potential of Republic of Srpska is currently used around 32%. By making insught in sector status, general impression is that hydro potential is not continuously realized, brcasue large projects are postponed or canceled, and development of smal hydropower projects is slow. When it comes to solar potential, Bosnia and Herzegovina belongs to the countries that are considered locationally desirable for the use of solar energy, because it has an average of 1840.9 hours of sunshine per year, while in the south the number reaches 2352.5 hours. It is considered economically feasible to install 1000-1200 MW of wind farms in Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to available data geothermal energy in Republic of Srpska is relared to the artesian wells of its north part from Una to Drina River with the temperatures from 37 – 75 oC. Technical potential of wooden biomass in Republic of Srpska, according to Biomass Atlas is estimated to 939.911 tons of dry matter annualy, while potential of biomass from secondary processes of treatmet is 449.273 tons of dry matter annualy. According to the calculations of the Energy Community of Southeast Europe, BiH had a real opportunity to increase the share of renewable sources in the total energy potential from 26.5% in 2005 to 33% by 2020, a similar relationship in Republika Srpska. Looking back two decades and the development of processes related to the use of renewable energy sources in Republika Srpska, the conclusion is that this development is slow and does not follow the trends of the European Union, but also the obligations that Bosnia and Herzegovina undertook in the Energy Community Treaty. There are many reasons for that, and some of the key barriers are corruption at all levels of government, but also insufficient development of transmission systems to be able to receive significant capacities of intermittent RES. Renewable energy sources can play a significant role in the economy of Republika Srpska, but how much that role will really be, primarily depends on the decision makers in Republika Srpska according to this resource.

In order to meet power needs, taking into account economical and environmental factors, wind energy conversion is gradually gaining interests as a suitable source of renewable energy. A Wind Energy Conversion System (WECS) differs from a conventional power system. The power output of a conventional power plant can be controlled whereas the power output of a WECS depends on the wind. In this paper the steady state characteristics of a WECS using doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) is proposed and simulated Wind Turbine and doubly-fed induction machine used in generating mode to produce electrical energy on a power network. Simulation analysis is performed to investigate harmonic analysis for DFIG based WECS.

Special issue on “Optimal design and operation of energy systems”

There have been many discussions in Lithuania about a strategy for reducing the impact of climate change. Members of the international community agree that reducing greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere is necessary to avoid dangerous climate change. The main greenhouse gas emissions from human activity are carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is mainly produced by combustion of fossil fuels, which are currently used: natural gas, coal, oil, peat, etc. Fossil fuels are still the main source of energy. The amount of energy produced and consumption from renewable energy sources (RES) is increasing both in Lithuania and in Europe. According to the Directive (2009/28/EU) Lithuania has a legally binding target in the year 2020. The share of renewable energy would account for at least 23% of the total final energy consumption of the country. The share of renewable energy would account for at least 10% of the final energy consumption in the transport sector. Lithuania achieved its target and this indicator was 23.9% in 2014. According to the Eurostat data, the share of RES produced from renewable energy sources in the total energy balance is increasing annually. In 2007 this indicator was only 4.7% and it has grown 4 times in 2016. The production of electricity from renewable energy sources satisfied the country’s energy demand by 18.9% in Lithuania. This is the best index so far. Wind energy is the most popular type of green energy, which has been growing at a rate of 5 times in this period. Promotion of the use of renewable resources is provided in the Republic of Lithuania Law on Renewable Energy and the long-term development of the use of renewable resources is provided for in the National Energy Strategy. At this moment Lithuania is a fuel importing country, but in the future Lithuania should produce about 70% of electricity itself. It is forecasted that in 2020 electricity generation in the country should make up 35% of the demand, in 2030 it should be 70%, and in 2050 it should reach 100%. From renewables we should receive a large, almost 80% share of energy. And gas will be a transitional fuel by 2050. The project of strategy states that energy from renewable sources will become a major component of all sectors: electricity, heat, cooling and transport. The objective is to achieve a 30% share of renewables in the final energy consumption balance in 2020, 45% in 2030, and 80% in 2050. The renewables should produce all heat energy and the share of green energy in transport should reach 50% at the end of 2050. The article focuses on the use of the potential of renewable energy sources from agricultural raw materials and their waste. The surplus of agricultural production makes it necessary to look for opportunities to reduce environmental pollution. The aim of the article is to assess the use of potential of renewable energy sources in Lithuania. The results of the analysis showed that increasing energy production is possible not only using wind, solar, water or geothermal energy, but by processing traditional agricultural and animal products and their waste: straw, grain crops, livestock or bird’s excrement, etc. It is recommended to look at the unconventional potential of raw materials, such as sewage sludge, spirits, molasses, etc. The use of biomass has potentially revealed alternatives to biofuels that underpin the use of different generations of biofuels. The use of biofuels in the long term should contribute to the slowdown in climate change.

Considering obligations imposed by the European Community, especially in terms of climate change, it is necessary to make a shift in the electricity production paradigm by reducing the share of conventional energy sources and increasing production from renewable sources. The electricity system of Bosnia and Herzegovina is mainly based on the production of electricity from thermal and hydro power plants. In the last decade, interest in investing in renewable energy sources has grown significantly. Aim of this paper is to point out the limitations and potential consequences that renewable energy sources can have on the power system, but also to propose solutions for more efficient integration of renewable energy sources into the power system using the model of virtual power plants by simulating different scenarios in the transmission network in the north-eastern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina using professional software

Research has been conducted under United States Department of Energy Contract DE-AC21-86MC21023 to develop a new type of coal-fired plant for electric power generation. This new type of plant, called a Second Generation Pressurized Fluidized Bed Combustion Plant (2nd Gen PFB), offers the promise of efficiencies greater than 48 percent, with both emissions and a cost of electricity that are significantly lower than those of conventional pulverized coal-fired (PC) plants with wet flue gas desulfurization. The 2nd Gen PFB plant incorporates the partial gasification of coal in a carbonizer, the combustion of carbonizer char in a pressurized circulating fluidized bed boiler, and the combustion of carbonizer syngas in a gas turbine combustor to achieve gas turbine inlet temperatures of 2300 F and higher. A conceptual design and an economic analysis was previously prepared for this plant. When operating with a Siemens Westinghouse W501F gas turbine, a 2400psig/1000 F/1000 F/2-1/2 in. Hg. steam turbine, and projected carbonizer, PCFB, and topping combustor performance data, the plant generated 496 MWe of power with an efficiency of 44.9 percent (coal higher heating value basis) and a cost of electricity 22 percent less than a comparable PC plant. The key components of this new type of plant have been successfully tested at the pilot plant stage and their performance has been found to be better than previously assumed. As a result, the referenced conceptual design has been updated herein to reflect more accurate performance predictions together with the use of the more advanced Siemens Westinghouse W501G gas turbine. The use of this advanced gas turbine, together with a conventional 2400 psig/1050 F/1050 F/2-1/2 in. Hg. steam turbine increases the plant efficiency to 48.2 percent and yields a total plant cost of $1,079/KW (January 2002 dollars). The cost of electricity is 40.7 mills/kWh, a value 12 percent less than a comparable PC plant.

The article comprehensively considers the economic aspects of the process of transition of the global economy to the use of renewable energy sources. An assessment was made of the potential investment and physical needs of energy based on renewable sources, and a study was made of the potential of the global economy to meet these needs. An analysis was made of the previously implemented actions of the governments of the countries of the world and business in the direction of the formation of an energy sector based on the use of renewable energy sources. Obstacles to the transition of the global economy to renewable energy sources of an economic and resource nature have been identified. The analysis of the experience of the countries of the world in overcoming the relevant obstacles and the formation of conditions by states to reduce the barriers for the entry of a global investor into the energy sector based on renewable resources was carried out. The most significant results from the point of view of the formation of energy based on renewable sources were studied and an assessment was made of their use for the formation of energy based on renewable sources in other countries of the world. Considerable attention is paid to the experience of the EU as an interstate integration group, the most integrated in the process of formation of energy based on renewable sources. Based on the results of the analysis of innovative and investment aspects of the energy transition to renewable energy sources, energy development trends until 2050 were formulated and a system of recommendations was developed for the implementation of the energy transition in the countries of the world. Keywords: energy; renewable energy sources; innovations; investments; state regulation; modernization.

Research has been conducted under United States Department of Energy Contract DEFC26-02NT41621 to analyze the feasibility of a new type of coal-fired plant for electric power generation. This new type of plant, called the Advanced CO{sub 2} Hybrid Power Plant, offers the promise of efficiencies nearing 36 percent, while concentrating CO{sub 2} for 100% sequestration. Other pollutants, such as SO{sub 2} and NOx, are sequestered along with the CO{sub 2} yielding a zero emissions coal plant. The CO{sub 2} Hybrid is a gas turbine-steam turbine combined cycle plant that uses CO{sub 2} as its working fluid to facilitate carbon sequestration. The key components of the plant are a cryogenic air separation unit (ASU), a pressurized circulating fluidized bed gasifier, a CO{sub 2} powered gas turbine, a circulating fluidized bed boiler, and a super-critical pressure steam turbine. The gasifier generates a syngas that fuels the gas turbine and a char residue that, together with coal, fuels a CFB boiler to power the supercritical pressure steam turbine. Both the gasifier and the CFB boiler use a mix of ASU oxygen and recycled boiler flue gas as their oxidant. The resulting CFB boiler flue gas is essentially a mixture of oxygen, carbon dioxide and water. Cooling the CFB flue gas to 80 deg. F condenses most of the moisture and leaves a CO{sub 2} rich stream containing 3%v oxygen. Approximately 30% of this flue gas stream is further cooled, dried, and compressed for pipeline transport to the sequestration site (the small amount of oxygen in this stream is released and recycled to the system when the CO{sub 2} is condensed after final compression and cooling). The remaining 70% of the flue gas stream is mixed with oxygen from the ASU and is ducted to the gas turbine compressor inlet. As a result, the gas turbine compresses a mixture of carbon dioxide (ca. 64%v) and oxygen (ca. 32.5%v) rather than air. This carbon dioxide rich mixture then becomes the gas turbine working fluid and also becomes the oxidant in the gasification and combustion processes. As a result, the plant provides CO{sub 2} for sequestration without the performance and economic penalties associated with water gas shifting and separating CO{sub 2} from gas streams containing nitrogen. The cost estimate of the reference plant (the Foster Wheeler combustion hybrid) was based on a detailed prior study of a nominal 300 MWe demonstration plant with a 6F turbine. Therefore, the reference plant capital costs were found to be 30% higher than an estimate for a 425 MW fully commercial IGCC with an H class turbine (1438 $/kW vs. 1111 $/kW). Consequently, the capital cost of the CO{sub 2} hybrid plant was found to be 25% higher than that of the IGCC with pre-combustion CO{sub 2} removal (1892 $/kW vs. 1510 $/kW), and the levelized cost of electricity (COE) was found to be 20% higher (7.53 c/kWh vs. 6.26 c/kWh). Although the final costs for the CO{sub 2} hybrid are higher, the study confirms that the relative change in cost (or mitigation cost) will be lower. The conceptual design of the plant and its performance and cost, including losses due to CO{sub 2} sequestration, is reported. Comparison with other proposed power plant CO{sub 2} removal techniques reported by a December 2000 EPRI report is shown. This project supports the DOE research objective of development of concepts for the capture and storage of CO{sub 2}.

Environmental, economic and strategic reasons are behind the rapid impulse in the deployment of renewable energy sources that is taking place around the world. In addition to overcoming economic and commercial barriers, meeting the ambitious objectives set by most countries in this field will require the development of novel technologies capable of maximising the energy potential of different renewable sources at an acceptable cost. The use of solar radiation and biomass for power generation is growing rapidly, particularly in areas of the globe where these resources are plentiful, like Mediterranean countries. However, solar energy plants necessarily suffer from the intermittency of day/night cycles and also from reduced irradiation periods (winter, cloudy days, short transients). Biomass power plants have to confront the logistic problems associated with the continuous supply of very large amounts of a relatively scarce and seasonal fuel. Hybrid systems may provide the solution to these limitations, maximising the energy potential of these resources, increasing process efficiency, providing greater security of supply and reducing overall costs. This work provides a practical introduction to the production of electricity from conventional Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) and biomass power plants, which is used as the basis to evaluate the technical and economic benefits associated with hybrid CSP-biomass energy systems. The paper initially analyses alternative configurations for a 10 MWe hybrid CSP- biomass combustion power plant. The Solar Advisor Model (SAM) was used to determine the contribution of the solar field using quasi-steady generation conditions. The contribution of the biomass and gas boiler to the power plant was estimated considering the available radiation throughout the year. An economic assessment of a 10 MWe power plant based on conventional CSP, biomass combustion and hybrid technology is calculated. The results show that investment costs for hybrid CSP- biomass power plants are higher than for conventional CSP and biomass combustion plants alone. However, owing to the shared use of some of the equipment, this value is significantly lower (24% saving) than a simple addition of the investment costs associated with the two standard technologies. In contrast, effective operating hours and, therefore, overall energy generation, are significantly higher than in conventional CSP (2.77 times higher) and avoids the need for highly expensive heat storage system. Owing to the lower biomass requirements, hybrid plants may have larger capacities than standard biomass combustion plants, which implies higher energy efficiencies and a reduced risk associated with biomass supply. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) is currently collaborating with a consortium of private companies in the development of a first commercial hybrid CSP-biomass combustion power plant that is expected to start operating in 2012.