World's Largest Solar Deal Signed in California

Posted on February 12, 2009 by Ariel Schwartz

In what is purported to be the world’s largest solar deal, Southern California Edison and BrightSource Energy signed a series of contracts yesterday to give California 1,300 MW of solar energy— enough power for 845,000 homes. The project will produce 3.7 billion KWH of power and avoid over two million tons of CO2 emissions each year.

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As part of the proposal, BrightSource will install its Luz Power Tower 550 (LPT 550) at each power plant. The LPT uses thousands of small mirrors, or heliostats, to reflect sunlight onto a steam-producing boiler placed on top of a tower. The steam is then sent to a conventional turbine to generate electricity.

Seven solar power plants will be built in order to generate the full 1,300 MW, with the first expected to be in operation by 2013. The rest of the projects will likely be completed six to seven years later.

SCE and BrightSource Energy are currently negotiating approval for the power plants with the California Public Utilities Commission. Construction may begin as early as 2010.

Photo Credit: NREL

Ariel Schwartz (374 Posts)

Ariel Schwartz was formerly the editor of CleanTechnica and is a contributor at Fast Company, Inhabitat, Triple Pundit, SF Weekly, and NBC Bay Area Online. A graduate of Vassar College, she has previously worked in publishing, organic farming, documentary film, and newspaper journalism. Her interests include permaculture, hiking, skiing, music, relocalization, and cob (the building material). She currently resides in San Francisco, CA.

Daddy26

If you had to eat a crayon out of a box of 64, what color would it be? ,
http://www.5t8.com/micro-niche.html Max the Micro Niche Finder

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http://www.5t8.com/micro-niche.html Max the Micro Niche Finder

Hiya, i have seen your site when searching a few weeks ago and i really love the design! I just bought a new 3 character domain (cost me a packet) for a niche review blog, and i was wondering if your design is a free or paid one? I’m new to WordPress and about to set it up, and i would really like to get something with a similar look to yours. Any ideas where i could download or buy something similar? Thanks for your help!
Harry

To Steve’s comment: “Maybe if we get rid of all the farms we would have enough acres for solar. Of course we would have nothing to eat.”

The solar farms are supposed to be in AZ/NV/NM to be efficient and cost-effective. You only need about 100 sq. miles of area to produce the power needs of the whole of the US (<1% of US). The Million Solar Roofs is a joke. With the new solar devices available, now you can produce electricity at a cost of 8 cents/KWh. It would still be cheaper to deliver power to NJ produced in AZ/NV/NM/So. CA/ TX/OK/FL. But the politicians will not do it.

BTW, they would never mention the cost of the project.
Harry

To Steve’s comment: “Maybe if we get rid of all the farms we would have enough acres for solar. Of course we would have nothing to eat.”

The solar farms are supposed to be in AZ/NV/NM to be efficient and cost-effective. You only need about 100 sq. miles of area to produce the power needs of the whole of the US (<1% of US). The Million Solar Roofs is a joke. With the new solar devices available, now you can produce electricity at a cost of 8 cents/KWh. It would still be cheaper to deliver power to NJ produced in AZ/NV/NM/So. CA/ TX/OK/FL. But the politicians will not do it.

BTW, they would never mention the cost of the project.
Energy Hoarder

Hopefully they will make enough energy to get us out of this debit we’re in!
Energy Hoarder

Hopefully they will make enough energy to get us out of this debit we’re in!
Carter

solar naysayers are almost always shills for some form of non-renewable energy industry.

you could fill all of our energy needs with solar just by using open desert space in Nevada. we’d need a significant upgrade to our national grid, of course, but that is doable, not science fiction.
Carter

solar naysayers are almost always shills for some form of non-renewable energy industry.

you could fill all of our energy needs with solar just by using open desert space in Nevada. we’d need a significant upgrade to our national grid, of course, but that is doable, not science fiction.
Clayton

Edit–

Oops, it’s 28.6 GW-hr/yr, but calculation is correct.
Clayton

Edit–

Oops, it’s 28.6 GW-hr/yr, but calculation is correct.
Clayton

Claim:

100 MW per plant “and is expected to produce 286,000 megawatt-hours of renewable electricity per year”, from Ariel’s link.

Math:

286 GW-hr/yr * 1/365 years/day * 1/24 days/hour = 32.6 MW ave day. Assume bright-light fraction of day is 0.4. Then we get 82 MW ave bright-light.

Conclusion:

Pretty close to 100 MW claim without any maintenance days, cloudy days, or tweaking of my first guess of bright-light fraction of 9.6 hrs/day. I believe that the peak temperature of the tower will limit the peak production to not much more than 100 MW due to potential thermal fatigue, but I’m just guessing (again).
Clayton

Claim:

100 MW per plant “and is expected to produce 286,000 megawatt-hours of renewable electricity per year”, from Ariel’s link.

Math:

286 GW-hr/yr * 1/365 years/day * 1/24 days/hour = 32.6 MW ave day. Assume bright-light fraction of day is 0.4. Then we get 82 MW ave bright-light.

Conclusion:

Pretty close to 100 MW claim without any maintenance days, cloudy days, or tweaking of my first guess of bright-light fraction of 9.6 hrs/day. I believe that the peak temperature of the tower will limit the peak production to not much more than 100 MW due to potential thermal fatigue, but I’m just guessing (again).
B Dobbs

[EDIT]

“Just for the record, I was implying that Cleantechnica had anything to do with this shill in the comments.”

Should read:

“Just for the record, I was NOT implying that Cleantechnica had anything to do with this shill in the comments.”

Sorry…
B Dobbs

[EDIT]

“Just for the record, I was implying that Cleantechnica had anything to do with this shill in the comments.”

Should read:

“Just for the record, I was NOT implying that Cleantechnica had anything to do with this shill in the comments.”

Sorry…
B Dobbs

Just for the record, I was implying that Cleantechnica had anything to do with this shill in the comments.

I found this same comment “template” (same basic argument and “facts”) on multiple blogs, so this does seem to be some type of concerted effort.

What I think Cleantechnica *could* do to counter some of this, is run a regular (weekly? daily?) column debunking some of the attempts at disinformation. “Clean” coal and ethanol are two subjects that come to mind. The problem with just running occasional stories is that the people who are working to muddy the debate are well funded, and they’re arguments are constantly evolving.
B Dobbs

Just for the record, I was implying that Cleantechnica had anything to do with this shill in the comments.

I found this same comment “template” (same basic argument and “facts”) on multiple blogs, so this does seem to be some type of concerted effort.

What I think Cleantechnica *could* do to counter some of this, is run a regular (weekly? daily?) column debunking some of the attempts at disinformation. “Clean” coal and ethanol are two subjects that come to mind. The problem with just running occasional stories is that the people who are working to muddy the debate are well funded, and they’re arguments are constantly evolving.
Ariel Schwartz

@Adam – We *always* put in a link to the original source – in this case, it’s in the first sentence of the post.
Adam

Hey B Dobbs, great research finding that other site with the same post. You’re absolutely right about organized misinformation, we all need to watch out. For it.

Would be nice if the articles posted on Cleantechnica contained references to the original source. They’re only 3 paragraphs long and I rarely see a link to where the info came from!
Adam

Hey B Dobbs, great research finding that other site with the same post. You’re absolutely right about organized misinformation, we all need to watch out. For it.

Would be nice if the articles posted on Cleantechnica contained references to the original source. They’re only 3 paragraphs long and I rarely see a link to where the info came from!
Phil

Nice negativity Kerry and Steve.

The idea is not to replace nuclear power, it is to replace coal power.

I have worked at a coal fired power station. Dirty, labor intensive, prone to spontaneous coal pile combustion, dusty and with a life span of about 30 years. They require constant shutdowns to repair boilers, conveyor belts, rotors and piping. Oh, and lets not forget the mountains of fly ash that are produced.

There is enough roof space in the USA to power every home and industry without requiring huge (additional) plots of land.
Phil

Nice negativity Kerry and Steve.

The idea is not to replace nuclear power, it is to replace coal power.

I have worked at a coal fired power station. Dirty, labor intensive, prone to spontaneous coal pile combustion, dusty and with a life span of about 30 years. They require constant shutdowns to repair boilers, conveyor belts, rotors and piping. Oh, and lets not forget the mountains of fly ash that are produced.

There is enough roof space in the USA to power every home and industry without requiring huge (additional) plots of land.
B Dobbs

Astro-turfing Exhibit A:

http://gristmill.grist.org/print/2009/2/12/152824/755?show_comments=yes

Same story, different blog. Almost the exact same comment shilling for nuclear, and making the 420 MW claim. Amazing how this poster seems to be the first on multiple story comment threads… just saying.

People… take everything you read from commenters with a HUGE grain of salt. There’s a lot of organized misinformation out there.
B Dobbs

Astro-turfing Exhibit A:

http://gristmill.grist.org/print/2009/2/12/152824/755?show_comments=yes

Same story, different blog. Almost the exact same comment shilling for nuclear, and making the 420 MW claim. Amazing how this poster seems to be the first on multiple story comment threads… just saying.

People… take everything you read from commenters with a HUGE grain of salt. There’s a lot of organized misinformation out there.
B Dobbs

Its fun to throw aspersions around, but without references these claims just sound like astro turfing to me. I looked around and could not find any reference (from a credible source or otherwise) that this projects 1300 MWs is “fictitious”. Again, without references this crap is just a lot of hot air that smells of shilling.

BTW, nuclear is not a renewable energy. Uranium is a finite resource. “At current usage, this is equal to about seventy years of supply.” [http://www.cfr.org/publication/14705/global_uranium_supply_and_demand.html#2]
B Dobbs

Its fun to throw aspersions around, but without references these claims just sound like astro turfing to me. I looked around and could not find any reference (from a credible source or otherwise) that this projects 1300 MWs is “fictitious”. Again, without references this crap is just a lot of hot air that smells of shilling.

BTW, nuclear is not a renewable energy. Uranium is a finite resource. “At current usage, this is equal to about seventy years of supply.” [http://www.cfr.org/publication/14705/global_uranium_supply_and_demand.html#2]
Steve

I don’t know if they have changed the picture but the picture up now is definitely solar thermal. I agree about nuclear power as well. Maybe if we get rid of all the farms we would have enough acres for solar. Of course we would have nothing to eat.
Steve

I don’t know if they have changed the picture but the picture up now is definitely solar thermal. I agree about nuclear power as well. Maybe if we get rid of all the farms we would have enough acres for solar. Of course we would have nothing to eat.
kerry bradshaw

Those “1300″ fictitious megawatts turns out to be an average output of 420 actual megawatts. Not very impressive – a single nuclear reactor is far more reliable , last three times longer and produces 4 times more power. On demand, when needed. And cloudy weather never stop s ractor from working. Solar power sucks.
kerry bradshaw

Those “1300″ fictitious megawatts turns out to be an average output of 420 actual megawatts. Not very impressive – a single nuclear reactor is far more reliable , last three times longer and produces 4 times more power. On demand, when needed. And cloudy weather never stop s ractor from working. Solar power sucks.
Steve

BrightSource Energy is Solar Thermal

So why do you have a picture of Solar PV panels accompanying the article ?
Steve

BrightSource Energy is Solar Thermal

So why do you have a picture of Solar PV panels accompanying the article ?