Oct 30 2010
NRG Energy via NRG Solar, its subsidiary company, wrote out a letter of intent to be a partner to BrightSource Energy in building, investing, and operating the world’s largest solar thermal project, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, which has 392 MW capacity, in Mojave Desert region of Southeast California.
NRG plans to invest $300 million during the next three years, and thus will become a major investor in Ivanpah. The project has been divided into three phases. The construction work has already commenced, and the plant would probably be functional by the middle of 2013. It has obtained $1.375 billion from US DOE as a loan guarantee and has already received all the necessary approvals and permits from both the Californian State and the Federal Agencies. Ivanpah has signed multiple power agreements with both Pacific Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison for the sales of electricity for a period of 20-25 years, almost doubling up the quantity of solar thermal energy currently generated in the US.
According to David Crane, CEO and President of NRG Energy, solar power is at the core of all the strategies developed by the company for producing clean, emission free products and solutions to America’s increasing clean energy users. Ivanpah with its huge scale is banking on California’s predominant sunshine, and also on the demand for renewable energy. This would also help to increase solar power generation using avant-garde technologies, while creating several green jobs for Americans.
BrightSource Energy’s CEO and President, John Woolard, commented that NRG’s enormous experience gained while owning and operating power plants along with its consummate understanding of the solar power markets, makes it ideal for the Ivanpah project. The main objective of Ivanpah was to prove that an environment-friendly solar thermal plant would also function as a significant resource to fulfill the global demand for reliable, yet low-cost solar power.
Ivanpah is situated on a federal land supervised by the US Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management, around 50 miles to the northwest of Needles, California, and about 5 miles from the Nevada border region. This project will yield power for 140,000+ homes and reduce carbon emissions by almost 400,000 tons, thus helping to meet the Californian goal of 33% renewables generation by 2020. During construction periods, 1000 people would be employed. All the engineering, construction and procurement work would be done by Bechtel. Bechtel would also be an equity investor in the Ivanpah project.
Source: http://www.nrgenergy.com