eSolar Receives Funding for 33MW Modular Solar Power Plants

From a 4/21 press release:

eSolar™, a producer of modular solar thermal power plants, announced (pdf) that is has closed $130 million in funding from Idealab, Google.org, Oak Investment Partners, and other investors for the construction and deployment of pre-fabricated power plants. Their distributed solar thermal plants achieve economies of scale at 33 MW, and are modularly scaled to fit the needs of large and small utilities.

"The eSolar™ power plant is based on mass manufactured components, and designed for rapid construction, uniform modularity, and unlimited scalability. Rather than over-engineering the solution, eSolar’s smart scalable solar architecture targets what we see as the four key business obstacles facing the sector: price, scalability, rapid deployment, and grid impact."

-- Asif Ansari, CEO of eSolar.

. . . Centering on eSolar’s 33 MW pre-fab form-factor, the company’s modular design translates to minimal land requirements. The company’s solar power plant solutions are tailored to fit local resources and produce a low environmental footprint, favoring a straightforward siting and permitting process.

. . . eSolar has secured land rights in the southwest United States to support the production and transmission of over 1 GW of power. eSolar will have a fully operational power plant later this year in southern California.

From their website:

The economic tipping point, for solar power, occurs when the capital cost of the solar field is less than the capital costs and fuel costs of the traditional system. To address this issue, eSolar has developed a modular power plant architecture designed to take advantage of mass manufactured components at every level.

eSolar has designed a solar field layout that minimizes installation time and cost. By employing a repeating structure and a revolutionary calibration system, eSolar plants come on line quickly . . . Utilizing very low wind profile heliostats, eSolar provides higher reliability in all wind conditions, lower risk of wind damage, and more power plant up-time.

Their power plants are structured on a 33 MW base modules, scalable to over 500 MW facilities, with energy prices that are competitive with fossil fuels, consisting of several thermal receiver towers, each with a field of heliostats. Each module is a complete power plant, consisting of several thermal receiver towers, each with a field of heliostat mirrors, and a central power block with steam turbine and generatore.

Solar heliostats were designed from the ground up to minimize every possible cost. Their heliostats are designed to fit efficiently into shipping containers to keep transportation costs low, and they are pre-assembled at the factory to minimize on-site labor.

If the statement that "prices that are competitive with fossil fuels" turns out to be true, than this is truly a breakthrough in solar technology. eSolar has provided no details about its technology and no specific information about "a fully operational power plant later this year in southern California," unless I have missed that announcement, I could find no reference to it on their website.

Comments

[TK]

Like everything else, you have to start these projects and improve the performance with things learned in real time. This is how all worthwile concepts realize their potential fruition over the long run. There is no perfect model to just flip the switch and go.

[Steel Fabrication]

I would really like to see an update on this blog to learn how this solar panel manufacturer is coming along with our changing economy.

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lol now that's what I call solar power!!

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[Namratha Raj]

Swathi Sunsource Power Pvt Ltd builds, develops and installs Solar Thermal Power Projects in India. We utilize the technology of CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) using Parabolic Troughs. All our projects are handed over to clients on a turnkey basis and we also provide servicing for the solar thermal plants. Our team consists of highly qualified technocrats and engineers in thermal power.

We have our manufacturing facility in Penukonda, Andhra Pradesh and it is spread over 50 Acres of lush land. We have already undertaken Solar Thermal power projects in India. We will be installing a 20MW plant for a famous Gujarat based company and also several other 20-40 MW projects across India.

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You are so right, if you could find anything about it being price competitive to fossil fuels, communities would be scrambling to invest. Several states in the mid-west and some states close to Canada do not supply all their own power. If these states and communities could keep this revenue close to home. I think some states could deregulate power companies and make them more competitive. Have a open power grid. These power companies would have to be competitive in pricing to get costumers. Kind of like the different cell phone providers.

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33MW is fabulous man..Getting this much solar energy is actually very much.

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It's good to see the whole idea of modular solar energy plants being applied. As solar panels propagate, the need is to see if government taxes the output power to levels of fossil fuels. That would most likely occur given the feed fest of government taxation on energy.

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There are several major benefits to wind power. of the most important is that wind power is the least pricey of all other forms of alternative energy. Wind turbines generate electricity at around four cents per kWh.

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So i'm guessing this footprint is bigger than its making it out to be? And the cost of transmission? Well i fondly appreciate them trying, especially in southwest USA.But will this thing have a 24 hour production rate, especially considering the fact it's solar?

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The project is outstanding no wonder why it had received such kind of support from several big companies.

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I'm instaling 3,4KW system, I hope it's enough for my home and i can save som money.

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Where in the southwest did they do this?

[Dentist Los Angeles]

Do you think now that it's a breakthrough in solar technology?

[Therapist New York]

That's what it'll look like in the picture? neat, it'd be fun to fly over and see!

[Car Lease Broker Los Angeles]

With all of this technology and these studies going on how is it that the world hasn't moved forward as a whole into this new solar/wind powered world? How many years will it take?

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This seems like a great company with great ideas in theory, but you don't see too convinced. Any updates on how things are going with eSolar?

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As the price of solar panels are going down Solar Energy is turning into a viable large scale energy source

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