SolarReserve completes financing for nation's first commercial scale solar power tower

[Viking12]

The Crescent Dunes project, which utilizes innovative, highly efficient and U.S. developed technology, will be the nation's first commercial scale solar power tower with fully integrated energy storage. The facility incorporates molten salt energy storage technology in a tower configuration and will be the largest of its kind in the world; providing reliable, zero-emission electricity generation on demand - day or night.

-snip-

"The Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project will be a showcase for American technology," said Kevin Smith, CEO of SolarReserve. "The support from the Department of Energy and our investors has been vital in order to bring this flagship project to realization, creating jobs and providing a platform for exporting this leading solar thermal technology worldwide."

"We expect to create more than 600 direct jobs on the project site over the 30 month construction period, and more than 4,300 direct, indirect and induced jobs at companies throughout the U.S. that provide engineering, equipment supply and manufacturing, transportation and other value-added services. Orders and activities are already proceeding in more than twenty states across the country," Smith added.

As a result of the advanced energy storage technology, the project will generate more than 500,000 megawatt-hours per year (almost twice that of other solar technologies per megawatt of capacity), enough to power 75,000 homes during peak electricity periods. This solar technology is a genuine alternative to baseload coal, nuclear or natural gas burning electricity generation facilities, without the environmental impacts of mining, drilling, transporting, and combusting and emitting the toxic byproducts.

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/09/28/3945915/us-renewables-groups-portfolio.html#ixzz1ZLZGl15u

[fascisthunter]

1. Huzzah!

good news!

[phantom power]

2. I've always wondered what salt they use.

[Viking12]

3. A mixture of sodium and potassium nitrate

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-to-use-solar-energy-at-night

[txlibdem]

4. The DOE says it will provide energy for 10 hours a day (double that of solar PV)

and, further, says it will provide power for 43,000 homes.

So it will definitely cover much of the peak energy demand but not 24/7. I hope they expand the project with two or three more solar power towers to enable 24/7 operation.

September 28, 2011
DOE Finalizes $737 Million Loan Guarantee to Tonopah Solar Energy for Nevada Project
Solar power facility to generate clean, renewable power and fund 645 direct jobs

Washington D.C. — U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced the Department finalized a $737 million loan guarantee to Tonopah Solar Energy, LLC to develop the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project. The solar project, sponsored by SolarReserve, LLC, is a 110 megawatt concentrating solar power tower generating facility with molten salt as the primary heat transfer and storage medium. It will be the first of its kind in the United States and the tallest molten salt tower in the world. Located 14 miles northwest of Tonopah, Nevada on land leased from the Bureau of Land Management, the company anticipates the facility will fund 600 construction jobs and 45 permanent jobs. The Crescent Dunes Solar Energy facility is expected to avoid nearly 290,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually and produce enough electricity to power over 43,000 homes.

...

The project includes 17,500 heliostats (mirror assemblies) that collect and focus the sun’s thermal energy to heat molten salt flowing through an approximately 640-foot tall solar power tower. The high temperature molten salt circulates from the tower to a storage tank, where it is then used to produce steam and generate electricity. Excess thermal energy is stored in the molten salt and can be called upon at any time to create additional steady, clean, renewable power for up to ten hours, even in the evening hours and when direct sunlight isn’t available. This increases grid stability and reduces the need for carbon pollution emitting generators, which currently supplement intermittent renewable generation technologies during periods of no or low solar resource.

https://lpo.energy.gov/?p=5246

It looks like they're trying to maximize profits by selling electricity only during peak hours. The beauty of molten salt storage is that the system loses very little heat even after 24 hours so they can sell their electricity to the grid whenever and in whatever quantity they choose. Compare that to solar PV which has to sell all of the power it's generating at exactly the moment it's being generated (without adding expensive battery or other type of energy storage).

If you figure the cost per household ($737 million, 43,000 homes) it comes out to $17,139 per home, or with only peak hours serving 75,000 homes: $9,826 per home. These figures compare favorably with other sources of peak energy production. Think about the average electric bill (air conditioning) in the summer plus heating in the winter (yes, it gets darn cold in the desert in the winter): the cost will be less than 5 years worth of utility bills for the residents.

This project is a win for the residents, bringing in about $10 million per year to the community and serving their peak energy needs.

[Viking12]

5. Nice analysis. Thanks.

[txlibdem]

6. Gratis

I really hate that it took staring at the brink of ruining the planet before solar, wind and the other renewables got their chance but I am very happy that so many projects are in the works now... finally!