$359m US loan paves way for unique solar plant
A $359 million conditional loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy (DOE) will pave the way for a unique photovoltaic (PV) solar power plant in Arizona.
Mesquite Solar 1, to be located in Maricopa County about 45 miles west of Phoenix, will be one of the first utility-scale PV power plants in the country to use an innovative, US-made inverter technology. (Inverters convert the direct-current, or DC, power from a solar panel into the alternating current (AC) electricity that powers homes and businesses.) The transformerless, liquid-cooled inverter design allows for significant improvements in energy output, a decrease in operating costs and improved reliability.
Once completed, the Mesquite Solar 1 plant is expected to generated nearly 350,0000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity in its first full year of operation. That’s enough to meet the power needs of more than 31,000 homes and avoid the carbon dioxide emissions of more than 38,000 vehicles. Electricity from the Sempra Generation plant will be sold to Pacific Gas & Electric Company.
“Taking advantage of the clean, renewable power in places like Arizona will help strengthen our nation’s position as a leader in solar power,” said US Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “This innovative photovoltaic facility creates new jobs while producing greater efficiencies that will help make solar energy a more viable and reliable source of power in the future.”
The DOE administers three separate loan programs that promote clean-energy projects. So far, under all three programs, the agency has issued loans, loan guarantees or offered conditional commitments for loan guarantees totaling over $33 billion to support 33 clean-energy projects across the US. The program’s 18 generation projects produce over 28 million megawatt-hours annually, enough to power over two million homes. To date, the program has committed over $10 billion in loan guarantees to solar generation projects, including four of the world’s largest solar projects.
The Energy Department has also issued conditional commitments or loan guarantees to support numerous other projects, including three solar equipment manufacturing plants, two geothermal projects, the world’s largest wind farm and the nation’s first new nuclear power plant in three decades.
Construction of Mesquite Solar 1, the first phase of a larger planned solar complex, is set for completion in 2013. Once it’s finished, the plant will be able to tap into the area’s more than 300 days of sunshine every year and will be one of the largest PV installations in North America.
