NewEnergyNews: ANOTHER SOLAR POWER PLANT FOR ARIZONA/

NewEnergyNews

Gleanings from the web and the world, condensed for convenience, illustrated for enlightenment, arranged for impact...

The challenge now: To make every day Earth Day.

YESTERDAY

THINGS-TO-THINK-ABOUT WEDNESDAY, August 23:

  • TTTA Wednesday-ORIGINAL REPORTING: The IRA And The New Energy Boom
  • TTTA Wednesday-ORIGINAL REPORTING: The IRA And the EV Revolution
  • THE DAY BEFORE

  • Weekend Video: Coming Ocean Current Collapse Could Up Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: Impacts Of The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current Collapse
  • Weekend Video: More Facts On The AMOC
  • THE DAY BEFORE THE DAY BEFORE

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 15-16:

  • Weekend Video: The Truth About China And The Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: Florida Insurance At The Climate Crisis Storm’s Eye
  • Weekend Video: The 9-1-1 On Rooftop Solar
  • THE DAY BEFORE THAT

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 8-9:

  • Weekend Video: Bill Nye Science Guy On The Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: The Changes Causing The Crisis
  • Weekend Video: A “Massive Global Solar Boom” Now
  • THE LAST DAY UP HERE

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 1-2:

  • The Global New Energy Boom Accelerates
  • Ukraine Faces The Climate Crisis While Fighting To Survive
  • Texas Heat And Politics Of Denial
  • --------------------------

    --------------------------

    Founding Editor Herman K. Trabish

    --------------------------

    --------------------------

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, June 17-18

  • Fixing The Power System
  • The Energy Storage Solution
  • New Energy Equity With Community Solar
  • Weekend Video: The Way Wind Can Help Win Wars
  • Weekend Video: New Support For Hydropower
  • Some details about NewEnergyNews and the man behind the curtain: Herman K. Trabish, Agua Dulce, CA., Doctor with my hands, Writer with my head, Student of New Energy and Human Experience with my heart

    email: herman@NewEnergyNews.net

    -------------------

    -------------------

      A tip of the NewEnergyNews cap to Phillip Garcia for crucial assistance in the design implementation of this site. Thanks, Phillip.

    -------------------

    Pay a visit to the HARRY BOYKOFF page at Basketball Reference, sponsored by NewEnergyNews and Oil In Their Blood.

  • ---------------
  • WEEKEND VIDEOS, August 24-26:
  • Happy One-Year Birthday, Inflation Reduction Act
  • The Virtual Power Plant Boom, Part 1
  • The Virtual Power Plant Boom, Part 2

    Wednesday, July 30, 2008

    ANOTHER SOLAR POWER PLANT FOR ARIZONA

    A few names are emerging at the forefront of the solar power plant development explosion in the U.S. southwest. Among those there is no more prominent a name, in fact no finer a pedigree, than that of Luz.

    BrightSource Energy, a Silicon Valley-based firm, owns Luz, an Israeli company. It purchased Luz II in order to “own” the most experienced designers of solar power plants in the world.

    Luz I built the original Solar Electricity Generating Stations (SEGS) plants in California’s Mojave Desert. SEGS proved the concept of concentrating solar technology in the 1980s. The Luz I concentrating solar installations have been in service for nearly 2 decades but were not expanded in the intervening years because cheap natural gas prices made development uneconomic.

    With a whole new set of market factors driving natural gas prices up at the same rate as oil and auto fuel pump prices, solar power plant development has exploded. Every competing version of the technology has proponents and big installations in the works.

    In response to a growing recognition of the value of and need for solar power plants, Arizona political leaders have been hard at work creating policy to incentivize solar development.
    (See ARIZONA POLICY TO PROMOTE SOLAR)

    The Mayor of Phoenix likes the idea of using the withering south Arizona sun to generate something besides the urgent need for air conditioning. (See ARIZONA: SOLAR AMBITIONS) Looking around for somebody to turn his solar burden into an energy asset, he seems to have settled on the finest solar power plant “bloodline.”

    Other Arizona financiers, however, are working with
    Abengoa, a Spanish company with a lot of its own experience in solar power plant development. (See BIGGEST SOLAR PLANT IN THE WORLD)

    And Stirling Energy is phenomenally busy building 900 megawatts of solar capacity with its unique technology in the California desert near San Diego. ( See CALIF SOLAR POWER PLANTS GET $100 MIL FUNDING FROM IRELAND)

    There will no doubt eventually be a shakeout in the industry and one solar power plant technology will emerge as the most efficient choice. For now, Arizona has enough sun for everyone.

    click to enlarge

    Luz II parent in Phoenix solar talks; The company has confirmed that its parent, BrightSource Energy, is negotiating to purchase suitable land in Arizona
    Merav Ankori, 29 July 2008 (Globes)

    WHO
    BrightSource Energy Inc./Luz II Ltd.; Joshua Bar Lev, VP regulatory affairs, BrightSource Energy; Phil Gordon, Mayor, Phoenix

    WHAT
    BrightSource/Luz are seeking real estate for a 400-megawatt solar power plant in Arizona.

    One of the original Luz SEGS parabolic trough installations, still generating megawatts 2 decades later. (click to enlarge)

    WHEN
    Mayor Gordon visited the BrightSource/Luz R&D facility in Israel earlier this year and reportedly initiated talks on bringing the technology to south Arizona.

    WHERE
    - A solar power plant building boom is ongoing in the U.S. southwest.
    - BrightSource/Luz would build its plant at a location convenient to supply the large and burgeoning power needs of Phoenix and south Arizona.

    The new BrightSource/Luz II technology uses a solar power tower. (click to enlarge)

    WHY
    BrightSource/Luz is building a 900 megawatt solar power plant in California’s Mojave Desert in partnership with the states Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) utility.

    QUOTES
    Joshua Bar Lev, VP regulatory affairs, BrightSource Energy: "A 100-MW generating station would bring up to 500 construction jobs during the 18 to 24 months it would take to build, and then the facility would run on a staff of about 20 to 24 people."

    0 Comments:

    Post a Comment

    << Home