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Agua Caliente Phase-I
Location: AZ
Operator: NRG Solar
Configuration: 30 MWp PV
Operation: 2012
System supplier: First Solar
EPC: First Solar
Quick facts: Agua Caliente is being built on a 2,400ac site in Dateland between Yuma and Phoenix. It was developed by First Solar and acquired by NRG in August 2011. MidAmerican Energy Holdings acquired a 49% stake in Jan 2012 shortly before the first phase went online. Output is sold to Pacific Gas and Electric through a 25yr PPA. Total capacity is to reach 290 MW in 2014.
Photograph courtesy of NRG Energy
Posted 4 Feb 2012 |
Copper Mountain
Location: NV
Operator: Sempra Energy
Configuration: 55 MWp PV
Operation: 2008-2010
T/G supplier: First Solar
EPC: First Solar
Quick facts: At completion in Dec 2010, this was the largest PV power station in North America. It is located on
380ac near Sempra's El Dorado CCGT plant in Boulder City and required no new
large-scale transmission infrastructure. The land is leased from Boulder
City and is part of the city’s Energy Zone. Copper Mountain was built out in stages
and now consists of 775,000 thin-film panels.
Photograph courtesy of First Solar
Re-posted 8 Dec 2010 |
Maricopa
Location: AZ
Operator: Tessera Solar
Configuration: 1.5 MW
Operation: 2009
System supplier: Tessera Solar, Sterling Energy
EPC: Mortenson
Quick facts: The Maricopa Solar installation is on a site just north of
Salt River Project’s Agua Fria power station in Peoria. This is a full-scale
demonstration project with 60, 38ft SunCatcher dishes, each of which
concentrates sunlight to drive a hydrogen-powered, 250-kW Stirling
engine. The plant was commissioned on 22 Jan 2010after about 4mos of
construction. NTR plc controls Tessera Solar and Stirling Energy Systems.
Several much larger SunCatcher plans are in design.
Photograph courtesy of Salt River Project
Posted 23 Jan 2010 |
Nellis AFB
Location: NV
Operator: MMA Renewable Ventures LLC
Configuration: 14 MWp PV
Operation: 2007
System supplier: SunPower Corp
EPC: SunPower Corp
Quick facts: This PV system is designed to provide about a quarter of the
electricity needs of Nellis Air Force Base, which is located northeast of Las Vegas and has about 12,000 military and civilian workers. The
PV arrays cover 140ac of land and include 72,000 panels mounted on single-axis tracking systems. These follow the sun
throughout the day and producing up to 30% more electricity than typical fixed-position solar panels. MMA financed and operates the plant, selling
power to the USAF at a guaranteed fixed rate for the next 20yrs. Nevada Power also supported the project by buying all the Renewable Energy
Credits generated, thereby helping the utility to meet its renewable energy requirements.
Photograph courtesy of U.S. Air Force
Posted 22 Dec 2007 |
Prescott Airport
Location: AZ
Operator: Arizona Public Service
Configuration: 1,450 kWp PV
Operation: 2002-2003
System supplier: ??
Photograph courtesy of Power
Posted 25 Feb 2004 |
Nevada Solar One
Location: NV
Operator: Acciona Solar Power Inc
Configuration: 1 X 64-MW CSP system
Operation: 2007
T/G supplier: Siemens
EPC: Lauren
Quick facts: This is the largest CSP plant built in the last 15yrs. It was
developed by Solargenix Energy and completed by Acciona. In Jul 2007,
Acciona closed $266mn of long-term project financing deal for the project,
the first leveraged lease structured financing for a CSP plant in the U.S.
Debt participants were Banco Santander, BBVA, and CAIXA Geral de Depositos
while equity investors included JPMorgan, Northern Trust, and Wells Fargo.
All electricity production is sold to Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific Power
under long-term PPAs. Boulder City leased the 400ac plant site for the
project. On about 350ac are 76km of parabolic arrays with about 219,000
mirrors concentrating the sun's rays over 18,000 receiver tubes. A working
fluid heats up to 400 °C and is used to produce steam and drive a
conventional T/G set.
Photograph courtesy of Acciona Energia
Posted 15 Aug 2007 |
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SGS Solar
Location: AZ
Operator: Tucson Electric Power Co
Configuration: 4.59 MWp PV
Operation: 2001-2005
System supplier: ASE, First Solar, BP Solar
Quick facts: At completion, this was one of the larger groundmount PV
plants in the USA. The installation now has almost 35,000 modules with
Xantrex inverter on a 44ac site near the Springerville coal-fired power
plant. The original plan was for a build-out to 8 MWp. Further development
plans and schedules are under review.
Photograph courtesy of Tucson Electric Power
Re-posted 30 Dec 2009 |
Saguaro Solar
Location: AZ
Operator: Arizona Public Service Co
Configuration: 1.35-MW ORC CSP system
Operation: 2005
System supplier: Ormat
EPC: Solargenix, Ormat
Quick facts: Picked as one of Power's Top Plants in 2006, this project is
a precursor to a second generation of parabolic solar trough technology. APS
partnered with Sandia National Laboratories and NREL for technical support
and project evaluation. Operation will be monitored as part of the US DOE
Solar Technology Program. The installation covers about 13acand has
111,300 sq ft of collectors designed to produce 2 GWH/yr.
Photograph courtesy of Power
Posted 6 Sep 2006 |
Silver State North
Location: NV
Operator: Enbridge Corp
Configuration: 50 MWp
Operation: 2012
System supplier: First Solar
EPC: First Solar
Quick facts: On 7 May 2012, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar officiated at the offical opening of this first completed, large-scale solar project on U.S. public lands. The project has 800,000 thin-film modules on a 600ac site on BLM land near Primm, NV. It was developed and built by First Solar and acquired by Enbridge in Mar 2012. NV Energy has a 25yr PPA for the output from the Silver State North scheme.
Photograph courtesy of Enbridge
Posted 27 May 2012 |
