S&C Electric Company has been awarded a contract to perform engineering services for one of the largest solar plants in the world, Calico Solar. The plant, located near Barstow, California, is being developed by Tessera Solar and EPC firm Mortenson Construction and will utilize the Stirling Energy Systems' (SES) SunCatcher solar dish Stirling systems to put 850 megawatts (MW) of capacity online.

For the Calico Solar plant, S&C's engineers will ensure the plant can be connected successfully to the grid without impacting stability or reliability of the utility's transmission system. Services will include power flow modeling of the SunCatcher system; stability, short circuit coordination, and dynamic simulation studies; and design of the collector system. S&C has also revised dynamic modeling of the SunCatcher, integrating control system improvements by SES, the manufacturer of the SunCatcher, into the electrical system model.

Calico Solar is the second Tessera Solar plant for which S&C's Power Systems Services Division is providing engineering services through Mortenson Construction. S&C is also providing engineering services for the 27 MW Western Ranch Solar plant that is planned near Marfa, Texas. S&C also supplied electrical switching and metering equipment for the 1.5 MW Maricopa Solar plant, which is operational in Peoria, Arizona.

"As communities around the world look to increase usage of renewable energy, one of the major challenges we face is finding ways to make these new technologies more cost-effective," said Wanda Reder, Vice President--Power Systems Services, S&C. "S&C is applying our expertise in integrating renewable plants to identify more efficient ways to install and maintain the electrical connection systems for these plants, and is thus helping to make this cutting-edge technology viable."