Two projects will double US's concentrating solar capacity
Two concentrating solar power (CSP) projects in California have received a boost of nearly $2 billion courtesy of the US Department of Energy (DOE).
The DOE is offering conditional loan guarantees for:
- The Mojave Solar Project (MSP) (a $1.2 billion loan guarantee) in San Bernardino County, and
- The Genesis Solar Project (a $682 million loan guarantee), located on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management in Riverside County.
At 250 megawatts (MW) each, the projects’ combined capacity will double the nation’s currently installed CSP capacity and displace a total of 40 percent of the output from a typical 500-MW coal-fired plant.
Abengoa Solar is developing the Mojave solar project while NextEra Energy Resources is sponsoring the Genesis Solar project. Together, the two developments are expected to create more than 1,630 construction jobs and 117 operating jobs.
“These projects represent an important step in the development of solar as an affordable, clean energy resource in this country,” said US Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “By investing in the commercial-scale deployment of solar technologies, we can create greater efficiencies that will lower the cost of solar power while creating jobs and increasing our global competitiveness in this key industry.”
Rather than use photovoltaic panels, CSP plants will use mirrors or lenses to concentrate the sun’s heat to generate steam. The steam then drives a turbine to produce electricity.
The Mojave Solar Project will be the first US utility-scale deployment of Abengoa’s latest Solar Collector Assembly (SCA), a significant improvement over the prior generation of parabolic trough technologies installed during the 1980s and ’90s.
Originally developed in connection with a DOE award, the SCA’s advanced features include a lighter, stronger frame designed to hold parabolic mirrors that are easier and less expensive to build and install. The assembly’s heat collection element uses an advanced receiver tube to increase thermal efficiency by up to 30 percent compared to the earliest CSP plants in the US. In addition, the advanced mirror technology will improve reflectivity and accuracy. Together, these improvements can permit the collection of the same amount of solar energy from a smaller solar field. Unlike older CSP plants, MSP will operate without fossil-fuel backup systems for generation during low solar resource periods.
Construction is about to begin on the world’s largest solar power facility.
To be located in Blythe, California, near Palm Springs, the Blythe Solar Power Project is expected to generate up to 1,000 megawatts (MW) of clean energy when it’s completed. That’s enough power to meet the needs of 300,000 homes each year, and similar in scale to the largest coal and nuclear power plants.
Solar Trust of America, a joint venture between Solar Millennium AG and engineering/construction firm Ferrostaal Incorporated, plans to break ground on the project this Friday.
Rather than use photovoltaic panels, the solar thermal power plant will use Solar Millenium’s HelioTrough collector system to direct the sun’s heat from parabolic mirrors onto a focal line pipe filled with liquid. The heated liquid will be used to generate steam to drive a turbine in an electricity-producing generator.
