64 MW Solar Thermal Unit Moves Ahead

SHOTT North America announced on October 3 that they have received their first large volume order for solar receivers.  They will supply 19,300  receivers for the 64 MW plant to be built in partnership with Solargenix.  On September 21 Solargenix announced that it had secured power purchase agreements with utilities and approval from the Public Utility Commission of Nevada which allows them to complete development of Nevada Solar One, the largest solar power plant to be built in 14 years.  The plant is scheduled to begin delivering electricity in June 2007.

Solar thermal power plants use the thermal energy produced by the sun to generate electricity.  Also called a parabolic trough power plants, they consist of three main components: mirrors, receivers and turbine technology. Nine parabolic trough power plants are already located in the Mojave Desert in California, developed by DOE and now owned and operated by public utilities, which  produce a total of 354 megawatts of solar electricity. When these power plants were originally erected in California, SCHOTT also supplied high quality special glass tubes to cover and protect their receivers. In 2004, SCHOTT introduced a completely new receiver that offers substantially higher quality.

Resources:

Solargenix Energy, press release September 21, 2005
SHOTT North America, press release, October 3, 2005

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Comments

[B.Sangha]

Would be grateful if you could inform me as to how much the project costs per MW for solar thermal power plants and at what price would the electricity have to be sold on long term basis for project to be economical.
Many thanks.
Burinder