First Solar Developing 550MW Solar Project in California
Chevron to Build 1MW CPV Plant in New Mexico
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First Solar Developing a 550 MW Solar Project in California
On March 9, First Solar announced a power purchase agreement to supply California's Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) with 300 MW of renewable energy from Desert Sunlight, a 550 MW utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) solar facility the company is developing in Southern California.
The other 250 MW portion of the project is already under contract to Southern California Edison (SCE). The facility, near Desert Center in eastern Riverside County, California, will produce enough power for about 160,000 homes, using the company's thin-film PV modules made from cadmium telluride.
The Bureau of Land Management fast tracked the project's permit application - First Solar plans to break ground this year and to complete it as early as 2013. First Solar recently completed the largest PV project in the state, and the second largest in the country, a 21 MW power plant in Blythe, which is also providing power to SCE. See the First Solar press releases on its Desert Sunlight project and the Blythe solar plant.
SCE and PG&E are also moving forward with other PV projects. SCE, which announced plans in 2008 to install 250 MW of solar panels on commercial buildings, made good on that promise on March 10 by signing a contract with SunPower Corporation for 200 MW of solar panels.
PG&E has contracted with Agua Caliente Solar, a subsidiary of NextLight Renewable Power, for 290 MW of PV power in Yuma County, Arizona. The first project with Agua Caliente was announced in June 2009 - 230 MW of PV in Antelope Valley, California. The Agua Caliente project is expected to start producing power in mid-2012 and become fully operational by late 2014. See press releases from SunPower and PG&E.
Chevron to Build 1 MW Concentrating PV Facility in New Mexico
Chevron Technology Ventures, a division of Chevron Corporation, plans to break ground this spring in Questa, New Mexico, on a 1 MW concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) facility, the largest of its type in the US and one of the largest in the world.
CPV systems employ lenses to concentrate the sun's rays on relatively small, high-efficiency solar cells. Although the cells are typically expensive, the CPV technology reduces costs by requiring fewer cells, although that's offset somewhat by the need for a solar tracking system.
Concentrix Solar GmbH of Germany will install the proprietary CPV system, which uses a two-axis tracking system and Fresnel lenses to focus solar rays on triple-junction solar cells. 175 high-efficiency solar panels will blanket 20 acres, and the electricity will be sold to the Kit Carson Electric Cooperative.
Concentrix installed a demonstration system at the University of California San Diego campus in July 2009, achieving system efficiencies of 25%. See the press releases from New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (PDF 68 KB) and Concentrix, as well as the CPV technology description on DOE's Solar Energy Technologies Program Web site.
The CPV facility will be built on the tailing site of a molybdenum mine operated by sister company Chevron Mining Inc. In September 2008, the U.S. EPA launched "RE-Powering America's Land" to promote development of renewable energy on potentially contaminated land and mining sites.
