Solar Millennium and SCE Sign Desert Solar Agreement
Solar Millennium, LLC, Berkeley, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Solar Millennium AG, has signed solar power purchase agreements with Southern California Edison (SCE).
The agreements, which are subject to approval of the California Public Utilities Commission, call for the development of a pair of 242 MW power plants—one of them in the 4th District and one in Kern County—with a potential expansion to a third 242 MW plant, also in the 4th District of Riverside County.
The local site is just north of Interstate 10, east of Desert Center near Palen Lake. The other site is in Ridgecrest, on the high desert in Eastern Kern County. The third power plant, should it become a reality, would likely be located at either the Palen location or at a site northwest of the Blythe Airport.
These agreements would provide a total of 726 MW of solar thermal power, and provide for the purchase of the output by SCE over 20 years. All three parabolic trough solar power projects are expected to begin operation between 2013 and 2014.
These utility-scale plants, for which the investment is estimated to be over $1 billion each, would supply solar power to SCE throughout the day, but in particular, during the afternoon peak hours of electricity demand when the solar irradiation is also at its highest. The projects will interconnect to transmission lines close to the site locations, the firm says.
If built, in addition to creating approximately 800 construction jobs each plant would employ nearly 100 permanent operations, maintenance and management employees.
The firm has already built projects in Spain, where the government provides a Feed-In Tariff to attract investments in solar power plants. Lacking these profitable Feed-In Tariffs in the Golden State, electricity providers nonetheless have goals established by California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard. The Standard sets particular targets for utilities and other electricity sellers to procure increasing portions of their energy supplies from renewable resources.
About Solar Millennium
Solar Millennium, LLC, Berkeley, California, is the wholly owned subsidiary of Solar Millennium AG, Erlangen, Germany. Solar Millennium AG is an international company in the renewable energy sector, with its main emphasis on solar-thermal power plants. Together with its subsidiaries, the Company specializes in parabolic trough power plants.
About solar thermal power plant technology
Solar thermal power plants generate electricity by converting solar radiation into heat energy. In a parabolic trough power plant, trough-shaped mirrors concentrate the incidental radiation onto a pipe in the focal line of the collector. Its absorption heats a fluid heat medium in the pipe, generating steam in the power block through a heat exchanger. As in conventional power plants, the steam powers a turbine to generate electricity. By integrating thermal storage, electricity can be supplied on demand, even after sunset.