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Procuring energy from a solar power tower

June 3, 2008

California’s largest electric utility Southern California Edison (SCE) is getting onboard the solar train as today it inked a deal with Pasadena, Calif.-based eSolar to help it secure an additional 245 megawatts of solar power by 2013 for its customers in what the companies say is the nation’s first commercial effort using power tower solar thermal technology.

What exactly is power tower solar thermal technology anyway, you ask? Well, according to the companies, each pre-fabricated module (pictured left) consists of several solar towers each associated with thousands of heliostats, or mirrors, which precisely track the sun over the course of the day and reflect light to a receiver at the top of each tower. Then, the concentrated light boils water in a central receiver, routing the steam to a traditional turbine to – viola! - produce electricity.

eSolar purports that its solar thermal technology is unique because it uses shorter towers, small mass-manufactured mirrors and advanced tracking software, allowing it to achieve economies of scale within a minimal footprint and easy connection to transmission lines.

SCE, which claims to be the nation’s leading purchaser of solar energy, said its project will be built in the Lancaster area of California (i.e., in the middle of nowhere—trust me on this, I’ve driven through), and is expected to begin delivering energy in 2011, with a total of 105 megawatts of renewable solar power by 2012, ramping up to 245 megawatts by 2013.

A separate announcement from eSolar noted that the series of plants will begin production in 2011.

In April, eSolar closed a $130 million round of funding led by Idealab, Google.org, and Oak Investment Partners.

Posted by Ann Steffora Mutschler on June 3, 2008 | Comments (4)

April 15, 2010
In response to: Procuring energy from a solar power tower
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June 9, 2009
In response to: Procuring energy from a solar power tower
Jean commented:

This tower technology will kill more bird them you can imagine


October 31, 2008
In response to: Procuring energy from a solar power tower
expert commented:

Solar energy in TÜRKEY Türkey has remarkable solar energy potential. But we can?t use our this potential. in last five years, we have been applied some solar applications. you can find some special applications in www.unienerji.com , yekarum.sdu.edu.tr Türkey has bigger potential than germany but germany has used solar energy more than us. I think, it?s main reason is less promoting the development of solar energy in türkey than germany.


June 6, 2008
In response to: Procuring energy from a solar power tower
Trojan4Life commented:

This article breaks down a lot of the trends in solar power- How things are getting bigger and better. If solar power is ever going to start generating massive amounts of energy, we need economies of scale to really kick in. And just a couple years ago, the United States seemed very far off from building a massive solar power plant the size of which is contemplated in this article. Back then it seemed only Germany or Japan was capable of such an endeavor, so this is incredibly promising. Still I'm also really interested in the micro-level, and I do wonder if these giant plants such as the one contemplated in this article are themselves harmful to the environment. I would imagine 90 huge solar towers will at least screw up a lot of birds. I'm considering buying a house in Oxnard, CA that utilized solar power as an incentive that was based on the real estate model described by Adam Edward Rothwell, a real estate professional and attorney at www.solarpowerandrealestate.com I think down the road solar power will become a fundamental part of more real estate transactions, which is obviously very different from the massive solar energy plants of the style contemplated in this article. Clearly though there are tremendous opportunities for solar energy across the board.

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