eSolar unveils 5MW Sierra SunTower solar power plant

6 August 2009

Sierra SunTower

eSolar, a provider of solar thermal power technology, has unveiled its 5MW Sierra SunTower solar power plant. The full-scale power plant, the only power tower of its kind in the US, produces electricity for Southern California Edison.

eSolar uses advanced software algorithms to precisely focus thousands of mirrors on a single point to harvest the sun’s energy, according to the company.

‘Today, we unveil a new blueprint for solar energy – one that leverages Moore’s law rather than more steel,’ said Bill Gross, CEO of eSolar. ‘Sierra is just the beginning. Soon eSolar technology will be deployed worldwide to provide clean, affordable energy to hundreds of thousands of homes.’

Constructed in less than one year, eSolar’s Sierra SunTower power plant marks the first of several developments in the Antelope Valley region using eSolar technology.

‘With today’s historic plant opening, eSolar is proving that California’s energy and environmental leadership are advancing carbon-free, cost-effective energy that can be used around the world,’ said California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. ‘Through measures such as AB 32 and the California Solar Initiative, I have worked to create an environment that allows companies such as eSolar to thrive in our state – creating green jobs, boosting our economy and preparing us for the energy demands of the future.’

Located in northern Lancaster, Sierra SunTower is built on private land designated for heavy industrial use.

Sierra SunTower was fully financed and developed by eSolar, proving the rapid deployment, pre-fabricated method eSolar patented and pioneered. The company is planning to deploy many more plants around the country and around the world. In February, eSolar announced an agreement with NRG Energy, Inc. to develop three plants in California and New Mexico that will generate up to 465MW of electricity.

Additionally, in March, eSolar licensed its technology to India-based ACME Group for approximately 1GWof solar thermal capacity.

‘Today we take an important step to a new dawn of power generation,’ said David Crane, President and CEO of NRG Energy. ‘With eSolar demonstrating the commercial viability of solar thermal power on a large scale, and with NRG planning to implement the technology at scale across the Southwest, we will begin to harness the sun to power our lives.’

eSolar is an Idealab company founded in 2007 to develop, construct and deploy modular, scalable solar thermal power plants. The company is based in Pasadena, California.

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: solar

This story was published on Thursday, August 6th, 2009 at 10:05 am and is filed under North America, companies, solar. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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