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August 7, 2009

eSolar Unveils 5-MW Solar Thermal Plant

California, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com]

eSolar this week unveiled its 5-megawatt Sierra SunTower solar power plant. The full-scale power plant produces electricity for Southern California Edison (SCE). eSolar says its technology resolves many of the problems that have held back large scale solar in the past including cost, speed of deployment and proximity to existing transmission lines.

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.

eSolar uses software algorithms to precisely focus thousands of mirrors on a single point to efficiently harvest the sun's energy and achieve economies of scale with a smaller footprint than anyone else in the business.

"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. Over the course of construction, this project created 300 jobs.

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August 8, 2009
It would be interesting to know more about the economic aspects of the technology employed, viz. advantages in terms of energy per area coverage, savings in steel and other material costs, ROI as against conventional PV, etc. It would also be useful to readers and project developers in other countries, especially developing countries to know whether the concept was economical in the the specific project scenario or whether it can be adapted with equal cost effectiveness. Also, as a consultant group based in India it would be fair to have data to assess where we might have reasons to be skeptic in terms of commercial viability of technology localization in the prevailing state of policy stabilization w.r.t. solar.
Comment 1 of 6
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August 10, 2009
Ditto
Comment 2 of 6
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Anonymous
August 12, 2009
It's pure VC hyperbole that "software algorithms" produce lower cost electricity in solar thermal. E-Solar has an inefficiently designed low temperature direct steam process with many small mirrors, each rack of which has expensive two-axis drive and control system. So what if they use optics instead of cheap time-of-day tracking -- this hardly matters. Hold your wallet when VCs conceptualize a power plant, and want to sell it to you before measuring the merit. This company has over promised and is not as good as the time-tested high-temperature parabolic troughs or even BrightSource's tower. Bill Gross wins the Vinod Kholsa prize for overselling a "VC breakthrough" on what is a bricks/mortar business "show me it works" business. Let us know when you have the independent measurement of the performance.
Comment 3 of 6
No image available
August 12, 2009
Not so fast my young skeptics. In general, solar thermal (ST) tends to be more efficient than PV. That said, there is a dearth of info on actual performance (whether wind, wave, or solar of any form).

It seems some people want the solution handed to them and it's not that simple. This is why we have engineers :)

These articles always lack details. What do you expect from the internet - vetting? This is just PR (promotional release) material. I have long despaired of getting anything useful.

If you have a commercial interest then do your fiduciary duty.
Comment 4 of 6
No image available
August 18, 2009
Gross claims they use "less steel" but that's not at all clear. The key metric for concentrating systems is conversion efficiency -- low efficiency means you need a lot more mirror space to produce a given amount of power. And it seems their collector and hot loop has pretty low efficiency.

Triple-junction PV has much higher efficiency than any thermal system I've seen, though Dish-Stirling is close. CSP-PV will be much cheaper per kWh than CSP-T, but thermal can easily integrate natural gas backup and storage. Time will tell if that's worth the extra cost.
Comment 5 of 6
No image available
August 18, 2009
An open loop sun sensor fixed between heliostat and tower can also track accurately. Solar is a beauty contest without substance. Fantasy sells better than reality. VC are buying/selling stories, nothing new, not the kind of action real markets need. The US spends $700 billion per year on fossil fuels.

CPV is cheaper and more efficient but less developed. It need R&D support, especially in heat management. Thermal applications like industrial process heat, desalination, and district heating have the best return on investment, and the best for mitigating fossil fuel consumption and global heating.

Bill Gross is pioneer, knows the metrics of cost, but is trapped in our political environment of greenwash. At least he is doing something.
Comment 6 of 6
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