SolarReserve, the Santa Monica, Calif., utility-scale solar thermal power developer, says it expects its $550 million, 100-megawatts Tonopah Solar Energy project to be fully permitted by the end of the year. The project is being developed on federal land in Nevada.
CEO Kevin Smith says it’s talking to project finance banks, which he declined to name. As G.E.R. reported SolarReserve is considering a combination of long-term bank debt and third-party equity. SolarReserve is also considering tapping the Department of Energy 1603 direct cash grants.
The grant program is set to expire at the end of the year — unless Congress extends them. The Tonopah project is one of 13 renewable energy projects on a DOE fast-track approval process, Smith says.
Is SolarReserve planning to raise more cash? Smith says that it’s well funded and has no plans to do so. The company raised $140 million in September 2008 as a part of a Series B round of funding led by Citi and U.S. Renewables Group, a greentech funder also based in Santa Monica.
Late last year Nevada power utility NV Energy signed a 25-year, power purchase agreement for the Tonopah output.
SolarReserve is also developing a 150-megawatt facility in California. Smith says the regulatory process with the California Energy Commission for that project will likely take longer because transmission lines connecting the power plant to the grid also have to be permitted.