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Released October 21, 2013 | SUGAR LAND
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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The world's largest concentrating solar power (CSP) project, located in California's Mohave Desert, began generating electricity late last month. On September 24, Unit 1 of the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS) produced its first electricity, which was synchronized to the power grid. That electricity went to Pacific Gas & Electric Company (San Francisco), a unit of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG) (San Francisco, California).
ISEGS Unit 1, sized at 118 megawatts (MW) (net), should be generating electricity at full capacity within the next few weeks, said Jeff Holland, a spokesman for NRG Solar (Nipton, California), a unit of NRG Energy Incorporated (NYSE:NRG) (Princeton, New Jersey), which developed the project. ISEGS Unit 3, at 117 MW (net), will be synchronized next, also in the next few weeks, Holland told Industrial Info. Electricity from that unit also will go to PG&E. Unit 2 of Ivanpah, at 130 MW (net), will be synchronized last, in December. Electricity from that unit will go to Southern California Edison Company, a subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE:EIX) (Rosemead, California). Both utilities have long-term power-purchase agreements (PPAs) for all of Ivanpah's output.
Holland said all three ISEGS units will be online by the end of 2013. The plant's output will help PG&E and SCE meet California's renewable portfolio standard (RPS), which requires 33% of all electricity consumed in the state to come from renewable sources by 2020.
"We're really excited about Ivanpah, because this (CSP) technology has never been done at this scale anywhere in the world," Holland said in an interview. "We're really excited about the potential to produce clean, reliable, affordable, renewable electricity at different scales to meet the different needs of our customers."
Ivanpah will use about 173,500 heliostats, mirror-like devices that concentrate the sun's rays that reflect heat to boil water. The steam from the boiling water turns turbines that generate electricity. The Ivanpah project would direct concentrated sunlight to three 459-foot towers, which hold the water to be boiled. The project also has advanced solar field integration software and a solar receiver steam generator.
Click here to take a virtual tour of the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generation System.
The three-unit, 377-MW ISEGS plant, which sits on 3,500 acres of land in California's Mojave Desert, will generate enough electricity to power 140,000 homes annually, NRG Solar said. The three power tower units will nearly double the amount of CSP generating capacity now operating in the U.S.
The Mojave Desert is widely regarded as having some of the best solar resources for generating electricity in the world. Ivanpah is using an advanced version of Luz's Power Tower technology, owned by privately held BrightSource Energy (Oakland, California).
"Given the magnitude and complexity of Ivanpah, it was very important that we successfully complete this milestone, showing all systems were on track," said Tom Doyle, President of NRG Solar, in a statement. "We couldn't be more excited about achieving 'first sync,' and we share this success with our project partners, BrightSource, Google Incorporated (NASDAQ:GOOG) (Mountain View, California), and Bechtel Group (San Francisco, California), which is responsible for engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning on the project."
Speaking about the first synchronization of power from Ivanpah to the grid, David Ramm, Executive Chairman of BrightSource Energy, said: "This is yet another major milestone that we have successfully achieved as Ivanpah approaches completion. Ivanpah is the showcase project for BrightSource's power tower technology and technical expertise. Validation at this scale demonstrates the viability of our technology as BrightSource increases focus on international markets and applications for concentrating solar power."
The California Energy Commission approved the construction of ISEGS in September 2010. Because it was built on federal land, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a branch of the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) (Washington, D.C.), also had to approve construction of the project. For more on Ivanpah, see October 4, 2010, article - CSP Heats Up: California Approves Construction of More than 2,800 Megawatts of New Projects and September 25, 2012, article - Construction Continues for Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating Station.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) (Washington, D.C.) provided Ivanpah with $1.6 billion of construction loan guarantees. Industrial Info shows the project has a total investment value (TIV) of about $2.2 billion. Holland declined to say whether the project came in at, over-, or under-budget, citing competitive issues. "We're happy where we are on the numbers," he said.
"Bringing Ivanpah online is a great accomplishment, but it's not clear how many more of those very large CSP projects we'll see going forward," said Brock Ramey, Industrial Info's manager of research for North American Power. "We are tracking a total of about $11.7 billion of solar power projects that are scheduled to kick off this year across North America, and another $40.6 billion that are scheduled to kick off next year. Across the West Coast, more than 3,600 MW of solar generation is scheduled to kick off next year. But we expect that no more than $14 billion of solar projects will actually kick off next year as scheduled, and most of them will use more traditional photovoltaic (PV) technology."
"Solar developers are working hard to get their plants completed by yearend 2016, so they can be eligible for the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC)," Ramey continued. "But the reality is that many utilities already have contracted for enough renewable energy to meet their state RPSs. And there continues to be challenges building transmission projects to bring renewable energy from remote sites like Ivanpah to customers."
"Finally, this is a difficult time to obtain financing for renewable energy projects," Ramey said. "Inside Washington, D.C., pretty much any renewable energy project seeking funding operates in the shadow of Solyndra. Inside the Beltway, there is a lot of opposition to federal support for renewable energy. Given that the federal government can't even agree on a budget, we don't see a lot more financial support for renewable energy in the near term."
View Plant Profile - 1075065
View Project Report - 6005262 6005662 300017713
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, three offices in North America and nine international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.
ISEGS Unit 1, sized at 118 megawatts (MW) (net), should be generating electricity at full capacity within the next few weeks, said Jeff Holland, a spokesman for NRG Solar (Nipton, California), a unit of NRG Energy Incorporated (NYSE:NRG) (Princeton, New Jersey), which developed the project. ISEGS Unit 3, at 117 MW (net), will be synchronized next, also in the next few weeks, Holland told Industrial Info. Electricity from that unit also will go to PG&E. Unit 2 of Ivanpah, at 130 MW (net), will be synchronized last, in December. Electricity from that unit will go to Southern California Edison Company, a subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE:EIX) (Rosemead, California). Both utilities have long-term power-purchase agreements (PPAs) for all of Ivanpah's output.
Holland said all three ISEGS units will be online by the end of 2013. The plant's output will help PG&E and SCE meet California's renewable portfolio standard (RPS), which requires 33% of all electricity consumed in the state to come from renewable sources by 2020.
"We're really excited about Ivanpah, because this (CSP) technology has never been done at this scale anywhere in the world," Holland said in an interview. "We're really excited about the potential to produce clean, reliable, affordable, renewable electricity at different scales to meet the different needs of our customers."
Ivanpah will use about 173,500 heliostats, mirror-like devices that concentrate the sun's rays that reflect heat to boil water. The steam from the boiling water turns turbines that generate electricity. The Ivanpah project would direct concentrated sunlight to three 459-foot towers, which hold the water to be boiled. The project also has advanced solar field integration software and a solar receiver steam generator.
Click here to take a virtual tour of the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generation System.
The three-unit, 377-MW ISEGS plant, which sits on 3,500 acres of land in California's Mojave Desert, will generate enough electricity to power 140,000 homes annually, NRG Solar said. The three power tower units will nearly double the amount of CSP generating capacity now operating in the U.S.
The Mojave Desert is widely regarded as having some of the best solar resources for generating electricity in the world. Ivanpah is using an advanced version of Luz's Power Tower technology, owned by privately held BrightSource Energy (Oakland, California).
"Given the magnitude and complexity of Ivanpah, it was very important that we successfully complete this milestone, showing all systems were on track," said Tom Doyle, President of NRG Solar, in a statement. "We couldn't be more excited about achieving 'first sync,' and we share this success with our project partners, BrightSource, Google Incorporated (NASDAQ:GOOG) (Mountain View, California), and Bechtel Group (San Francisco, California), which is responsible for engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning on the project."
Speaking about the first synchronization of power from Ivanpah to the grid, David Ramm, Executive Chairman of BrightSource Energy, said: "This is yet another major milestone that we have successfully achieved as Ivanpah approaches completion. Ivanpah is the showcase project for BrightSource's power tower technology and technical expertise. Validation at this scale demonstrates the viability of our technology as BrightSource increases focus on international markets and applications for concentrating solar power."
The California Energy Commission approved the construction of ISEGS in September 2010. Because it was built on federal land, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a branch of the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) (Washington, D.C.), also had to approve construction of the project. For more on Ivanpah, see October 4, 2010, article - CSP Heats Up: California Approves Construction of More than 2,800 Megawatts of New Projects and September 25, 2012, article - Construction Continues for Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating Station.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) (Washington, D.C.) provided Ivanpah with $1.6 billion of construction loan guarantees. Industrial Info shows the project has a total investment value (TIV) of about $2.2 billion. Holland declined to say whether the project came in at, over-, or under-budget, citing competitive issues. "We're happy where we are on the numbers," he said.
"Bringing Ivanpah online is a great accomplishment, but it's not clear how many more of those very large CSP projects we'll see going forward," said Brock Ramey, Industrial Info's manager of research for North American Power. "We are tracking a total of about $11.7 billion of solar power projects that are scheduled to kick off this year across North America, and another $40.6 billion that are scheduled to kick off next year. Across the West Coast, more than 3,600 MW of solar generation is scheduled to kick off next year. But we expect that no more than $14 billion of solar projects will actually kick off next year as scheduled, and most of them will use more traditional photovoltaic (PV) technology."
"Solar developers are working hard to get their plants completed by yearend 2016, so they can be eligible for the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC)," Ramey continued. "But the reality is that many utilities already have contracted for enough renewable energy to meet their state RPSs. And there continues to be challenges building transmission projects to bring renewable energy from remote sites like Ivanpah to customers."
"Finally, this is a difficult time to obtain financing for renewable energy projects," Ramey said. "Inside Washington, D.C., pretty much any renewable energy project seeking funding operates in the shadow of Solyndra. Inside the Beltway, there is a lot of opposition to federal support for renewable energy. Given that the federal government can't even agree on a budget, we don't see a lot more financial support for renewable energy in the near term."
View Plant Profile - 1075065
View Project Report - 6005262 6005662 300017713
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, three offices in North America and nine international offices, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.
