Abengoa Solar has announced the award of two research and development projects in the field of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) by the U.S. Department of Energy that total over $14 million.

The goal of the DOE R and D program, working in collaboration with partners such as Abengoa Solar, is to develop CSP technologies that are competitive with conventional energy sources by 2015.

Under the first award, Abengoa Solar aims to develop technology that will reduce the cost of thermal energy storage for trough-based CSP systems by 20 to 25 percent. The second contract will investigate new technologies for integrating thermal energy storage with power tower CSP systems.

Santiago Seage, CEO of Abengoa Solar, expressed his pleasure in learning of these two awards by saying, "It is with great satisfaction that we acknowledge the award of these two R and D contracts to work in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy to develop critical technology in the areas of solar thermal energy collection and storage."

The two projects join three other DOE contracts that were awarded to Abengoa Solar in December 2007 that were focused on developing more efficient parabolic trough technology.

The overall R and D program being pursued by Abengoa Solar over the next few years will provide a major impetus in the drive to increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of solar power technology.

The five projects in the U.S., together with the Cenit program that recently granted Abengoa Solar 24 million Euros in Spain, and the project awarded in the European Union Seventh General Program, will accelerate Abengoa Solar's R and D program.

"Thanks to support on both sides of the Atlantic, we will be able to offer energy solutions that are increasingly more clean and efficient," declared Santiago Seage.