Developer of the world’s largest concentrating solar power project receives $1.37 billion loan guarantee
By Oliver M. Bayani
The new design was submitted to the California Energy Commission and the Bureau of Land Management on February 11. Photo from the California Energy Commission
The United States Department of Energy has guaranteed $1.37 billion in conditional loans for BrightSource Energy Inc. to finance the world’s largest concentrating solar power project that will rise in Ivanpah, California.
The announcement comes after BrightSource, the solar power plant developer, submitted an alternative design for the project which was previously planned to generate 440 megawatts but was cut down to 392 MW to make it less threatening to the habitat of the desert tortoise and rare plants in the area.
The new design was submitted to the California Energy Commission and the Bureau of Land Management on February 11.
The loan guarantee to BrightSource comes from the Energy Department’s 2005 program which supports renewable energy technologies. The loan guarantee is tied to financial and environmental requirements which the company must meet.
The Ivanpah solar project, which will use solar collectors to catch sunshine for heating steam turbine solutions, will be made up of three separate solar farms.
The project would power 140,000 homes while cutting down emissions by more than 400,000 tons every year, according to its proponents. Construction is expected to begin in the second half of the year.
Approximately two-thirds of the power generated from Ivanpah will be sold to Pacific Gas and Electric, while the rest will go to Southern California Edison.
BrightSource and Bechtel Corporation, the engineering and construction contractor for the Ivanpah project, expect to employ 1,000 jobs throughout construction and 86 permanent jobs afterwards.
The project is also expected to provide $400 million in local and state tax revenues over its first 30-year life.
“As home to some of the world’s best solar fields and the nation’s largest green economy, it is no surprise the world’s largest solar energy project would choose California,” said California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“Our ambitious environmental policies are promoting the growth of clean, reliable energy in our communities and growing green jobs up and down the state,” he added.
In May 2009, BrightSource raised more than $160 million from its investors including Google, British Petroleum Alternative Energy, Chevron Technology Ventures, StatoilHydro Venture, Black River, VantagePoint Venture Partners, Morgan Stanley, DBL Investors and Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
Oakland, California-based BrightSource Energy is the only solar company selected as technology pioneer by the World Economic Forum in 2009.
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