US Department of Energy Confirms $967 Million Loan Guarantee for Solar Project

A $967 million loan guarantee has been confirmed by the US Department of Energy (DOE) for the 290 MW Agua Caliente Solar project under construction in Arizona’s Yuma County.

This development will be the largest solar power plant in the world once completed.  It has been acquired by NRG Energy from First Solar for a reported $800 million.

Meanwhile, NRG Energy’s subsidiary NRG Solar and Japanese partner Eurus Energy have announced the start of operations at the 45 MW Avenal Solar Generating Facility in California.

First Solar has also got the go ahead for an even larger 550 MW photovoltaic facility in California. The Topaz Solar Farm will join a 250 MW project being developed by California Valley Solar Ranch.

The company is also joining forces with Sempra Generation to expand the existing 48 MW Copper Mountain Solar complex in Boulder City, Nevada. The partners will install a further 92 MW by January 2013 and 58 MW by 2015.

Elsewhere in Nevada, ENN Mojave Energy, a subsidiary of the Chinese ENN Group, plans to build a solar thin-film manufacturing plant and an adjoining 720 MW solar farm. But the plans will require $4-6 billion in investment and the US Department of the Interior (DOI) to change the land use restrictions.

Meanwhile, the DOI has approved two solar projects on public land in California – Abengoa’s 250 MW solar thermal parabolic trough Mojave Solar project in San Bernardino County and the 200 MW Imperial Solar Energy Center.

And yet another solar farm is under construction in Niland, California thanks to a $77.4 million loan agreement from the North American Development Bank for developer Imperial Valley Solar Company, a subsidiary of privately-owned SunPeak Solar.

Outside the US, AES Solar – a joint venture between AES and Riverstone Holdings – has secured €68 million for the construction of solar photovoltaic projects totalling 18 MW in the Lazio, Puglia and Sicily regions of Italy.

And finally, GE Energy has confirmed a strategic investment of $40 million in concentrating solar thermal power technology developer eSolar.

The company announced the investment earlier this summer, but did not reveal the scale of the investment. As part of the deal, GE Energy’s president and CEO of thermal products will join eSolar’s board of directors.

“Together, we are able to bring to market a power plant solution that drives down the cost of solar and meets the growing demand for renewable energy generation,” says eSolar’s president and CEO John Van Scoter.

The deal enables GE to incorporate eSolar’s solar thermal technology with its fleet of combined cycle power plants, which include a gas turbine, steam turbine, generators and a heat recovery steam generator, boosting fuel efficiencies to over 70%.

The two companies will target Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the US for the combined-cycle systems and are already working on a 530 MW project in Turkey, which features a 50 MW concentrated solar thermal tower technology integrated into a combined cycle power plant.

SOURCE:  http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/power-generation/i/4405/