42 U.S.C. § 16234 — Concentrating solar power research program

(a) In general. The Secretary must conduct a research and development program to evaluate the potential for using concentrating solar power to produce hydrogen, including cogeneration approaches for both hydrogen and electricity. (b) Administration. The program must take advantage of existing facilities as much as practical, and must include (1) developing optimized technologies common to both electricity and hydrogen production; (2) evaluating thermochemical cycles for hydrogen production at the temperatures concentrating solar power can reach; (3) evaluating materials issues for those thermochemical cycles; (4) cogenerating solar thermal electric power and photosynthetic-based hydrogen production; (5) system architecture and economics studies; and (6) coordinating with the Next Generation Nuclear Plant Project on high-temperature materials, thermochemical cycles, and economic issues. (c) Assessment. In carrying out this program, the Secretary must (1) assess conflicting guidance on the economic potential of concentrating solar power for electricity production, as found in the National Research Council's 2000 report "Renewable Power Pathways: A Review of the U.S. Department of Energy's Renewable Energy Programs" and subsequent Department-funded reviews of that report; and (2) provide an assessment of the potential impact of technology used to concentrate solar power for electricity, before or alongside submitting the fiscal year 2008 budget. (d) Report. Within 5 years of August 8, 2005, the Secretary must give Congress a report on the economic and technical potential for producing electricity or hydrogen, with or without cogeneration, using concentrating solar power, including the economic and technical feasibility of potentially building a pilot demonstration facility suitable for commercially producing electricity or hydrogen this way.