Harry's project bears watching.

Feds OK Tonopah solar loan


Posted on20 May 2011.
By Mark Waite

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced Thursday the issuance of a $737 million loan guarantee for a 110-megawatt, concentrated solar power project planned by Solar Reserve right outside of Tonopah.

Kevin Smith, chief executive officer of Solar Reserve, said his company expects to start construction on the project later this summer. It will create 600 construction jobs and 50 permanent jobs. Smith said he is now lining up contractors, there’s also a huge amount of documentation under the program.

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., in a conference call with reporters Thursday, said the project is moving forward thanks to efforts to preserve the loan guarantee program. It was on the chopping block at one point during discussions on the federal budget for the rest of this fiscal year.

In making the announcement, Chu said:

“We are in a global race to grab the growing market for clean energy technology and to win this race, Nevada needs the development and production of clean energy technologies. Nevada is helping lead the way, especially in renewable energy generation. Today we’re taking a big step in the right direction. I’m pleased to announce the creation of an innovative project that will create hundreds of jobs.”

Solar Reserve was granted right-of-way on U.S. Bureau of Land Management property on Pole Line Road 13 miles northwest of Tonopah. The project calls for building a 600-foot tall tower with a molten salt collection system that will allow the solar energy to be stored after sunset. It will be enough power to supply 43,000 homes, Chu said.

The energy secretary said the loan guarantee program is providing financing for 29 projects that will generate 62,000 jobs.
“Solar generating programs will generate jobs in Nevada, clean the air we breathe and help America be the leader in solar energy,” Chu said.
Smith applauded the support from Senator Reid for the loan guarantee program. He said Solar Reserve has a license for a system developed by United Technology Corporation.

Smith credited that storage technology with his company’s ability to sign a 25-year memorandum of understanding to supply power to NV Energy. Other solar companies are looking to California to execute agreements.

“We’ll create approximately 4,000 direct and indirect jobs in order to supply that facility with the parts it needs to build it. In addition, once we get into operation we’ll have a 50 person operating staff. We have a $10 million operating budget, which mostly will be spent in the region of the project and create $40 million in tax revenues over the first 10 years of operation,” Smith said.

Suppliers will be from throughout the country, but Smith said the manufacture of the 17,000 heliostats, flat glass on a pedestal he said are twice the size of a bus, will be done in the local area.

Solar Reserve will hook up to a transmission line from the old Anaconda mine. Ultimately the company will tap into a north-south power line planned in the western part of the state by NV Energy.

NV Energy filed an application May 6 for a Utility Environmental Protection Act permit to build a 538-mile transmission line of either 230, 345 and/or 500 kilovolts from the Fort Sage Substation in Washoe County to the Eldorado Substation in Clark County. It would roughly parallel Highway 95 through Esmeralda, Mineral and Nye counties. Smith noted that project is also being funded by the loan guarantee program.

Earlier this year NV Energy and LS Power announced the beginning of the One Nevada Transmission Line through the eastern side of the state from Ely to Las Vegas.

Smith is excited about what is referred to as the Crescent Dunes project. He expects to export the technology worldwide to places like the Mideast and South Africa.

Reid said he’ll try to extend the loan guarantee program after the end of this fiscal year.

“I feel comfortable something this good should be extended. It creates jobs and lessens our dependence on foreign oil,” Reid said.

Solar Millennium is planning a concentrated solar power plant in Amargosa Valley, but has applied for a loan guarantee for its Blythe, Calif. project.

Solar Reserve is north of desert tortoise habitat, which ends at about Beatty. Bright Source Energy will only be able to build phase I of its solar plant in Ivanpah, Calif. due to problems with the incidental taking of desert tortoise.

Reid didn’t want to comment on the desert tortoise hampering solar projects in Southern Nevada, preferring to stick with the announcement. But he did say the Solar Reserve project was very important for Nye County, noting the last census showed Pahrump with five-sixths of the county population.

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.)
Feds OK Tonopah solar loan | Pahrump Valley Times