The next generation
Nevada Solar One builds on the experience derived from the SEGS projects and uses much of the same solar collection technology. The project was initially developed by Solargenix Energy in 2003, although it is now jointly owned by Acciona Energia and Solargenix Energy. (Acciona Energia purchased 55% of Solargenix Energy and formed Acciona Solar Power.) The only other utility-scale concentrating solar collector-style plant in the U.S. is the Saguaro Solar Power Plant, owned and operated by Arizona Public Service. That 1-MW project uses organic Rankine cycle technology and occupies a 25-acre site near the company’s existing Saguaro Power Plant, close to Red Rock, Ariz., about 30 miles northwest of Tucson. (The Saguaro Solar Power Plant was a POWER 2006 Top Plant.)
The 64-MW Nevada Solar One, touted as the largest solar thermal plant built in the world in the past 15 years, began commercial operation in June 2007. The $250 million project, located in the Nevada desert just 25 miles southwest of Las Vegas, broke ground on February 11, 2006, and was constructed in just 16 months. Solar One is the largest renewable generating facility in the state of Nevada (Figure 1). In fact, its immense size—350 acres—is, in the words of Green TV Productions’ Shaine Ebrahimi, “mind-blowing.” (You can watch Ebrahimi’s podcast interview with project leaders at www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=47845.)
1. Heat in the desert. The 350-acre Solar One project site is located 25 miles southwest of Las Vegas. The project is the first utility-scale concentrating solar system built in the past 15 years. Courtesy: Acciona Solar Power
Power generated from the plant is purchased by Nevada Power Co. and Sierra Pacific Power under a 20-year power purchase agreement. Nevada’s Renewable Portfolio Standard requires utilities to produce 20% of their electrical generation from renewables by 2013 and includes a so-called “solar cut-out” that requires at least one-fourth of that power to come from solar sources. After all, the solar energy that shines on Las Vegas should stay in Las Vegas.
Solargenix has a 40-year lease with Boulder City for Solar One’s site at a cost of $550,000 a year. The company also signed an option to lease another 650 acres in the future. Nevada Power Co. built a new 230-kV substation to interconnect the facility. Abilene, Texas-based Lauren Engineers & Constructors was the engineering procurement/construction contractor.
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