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U.S. Department of Energy

Jesse Gary

Technology Development Manager

SunShot CSP Program

 

Jesse Gary brings a multifaceted background, energy, and vision to the SunShot Initiative's CSP team efforts. He began his career as a mechanical engineer in the oil and gas industry. However, Jesse began to develop a passion for energy efficiency and renewables while working for a small energy management firm in San Francisco.

Photo of Jesse Gary.

"Many emerging national energy programs originated in the Bay Area, which is a very progressive community on energy issues," he said. "When I came to D.C., I wanted to make an impact on a national scale."

For Jesse, one great challenge and personal highlight has been acting as the funding opportunity manager for the 2012 SunShot CSP Research and Development (R&D) program. This funding opportunity awarded $55 million across 21 projects that were competitively selected from 150 applications.

"It's been exciting to build a large part of the portfolio from the ground up and see it all come together," Jesse said.

The SunShot CSP R&D 2012 program supports novel and revolutionary research into CSP technologies, such as advanced power cycles that will replace steam-based Rankine cycles. The program currently includes the two largest supercritical carbon dioxide test loops—1 megawatt (MW) and 10 MW—that will have ever been constructed. Other efforts underway focus on hybridization technologies that integrate CSP plants with fossil fuel plants.

"Some CSP projects have already succeeded in hybridization and are directly offsetting the use of fossil fuels," Jesse said.

Another highlight for Jesse has been seeing successes unfold on both the domestic and global fronts.

"In the United States, there is currently around 520 megawatts of CSP in operation, but the five plants under construction will soon increase this number to 1.8 gigawatts," Jesse said. "However, we're not only seeing increased activity in the United States and Europe, but we're also seeing new plants spring up in India, Thailand, UAE, Morocco, Egypt, and Algeria, to name a few. It's an exciting time for CSP."

Jesse managed the following projects:

Past