The goal of the Department of Energy's R&D programme, 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.

These two projects join three other contracts with the Department of Energy that were awarded to Abengoa Solar in December last year. They are focused on parabolic trough technology.

The five projects in the US, together with the Cenit programme 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&D programme.

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