SolarReserve was a developer of utility-scale solar power projects which include

Concentrated Solar Power Concentrated solar power (CSP, also known as concentrating solar power, concentrated solar thermal) systems generate solar power by using mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight into a receiver. Electricity is generated whe ...

(CSP) and

Photovoltaic Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially ...

(PV) technology. The company has commercialized solar thermal energy storage technology that enables

solar power tower A solar power tower, also known as 'central tower' power plant or 'heliostat' power plant, is a type of solar furnace using a tower to receive focused sunlight. It uses an array of flat, movable mirrors (called heliostats) to focus the sun's ra ...

CSP plants to deliver electricity day and night. In this technology, a

molten salt Molten salt is salt which is solid at standard temperature and pressure but liquified due to elevated temperature. A salt that is liquid even at standard temperature and pressure is usually called a room-temperature ionic liquid, and molten salts ...

is used to capture the energy from the sun and store it. When electricity is needed, the stored liquid salt is used to turn water into steam to turn a turbine and generate electricity.WIRED, The Window
Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project Part 1: The Facility-The Window-WIRED
/ref> As of May 2015, SolarReserve has developed and secured long-term power contracts for 482 megawatts (MW) of solar projects representing $2.8 billion of project capital, with a development pipeline of more than 6.6 gigawatts (GW) globally. SolarReserve reached its lowest price yet at ¢6.3/kWh for the 2019

Copiapó Solar Project The Copiapó Solar Project is a 390 megawatt (MW) net solar thermal power project to be located near Copiapó, about 65 kilometers east of the coastal town of Caldera. The project is being developed by SolarReserve, and is scheduled to re ...

. By 2020, the company had ceased operations. An affiliate of SolarReserve filed a lawsuit to inspect the books of Tonopah Solar Energy LLC, a power plant project SolarReserve invested but ended losing control. A Delaware judged rule rejected SolarReserve's affiliate claim.

History

SolarReserve was formed in early 2008 with seed capital from US Renewables Group, in partnership with

United Technologies Corporation United Technologies Corporation (UTC) was an American multinational corporation, multinational list of conglomerates, conglomerate headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut. It researched, developed, and manufactured products in numerous are ...

(UTC), to commercialize advanced molten salt technology for utility-scale concentrated solar thermal power. This technology was first developed and tested by

Rocketdyne Rocketdyne is an American rocket engine design and production company headquartered in Canoga Park, California, Canoga Park, in the western San Fernando Valley of suburban Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, in southern California. Rocketdyne ...

for two decades and had more than 100 US and international patents. In September 2008, the company raised an additional $140 million in a Series B funding. In 2014, SolarReserve acquired ownership from Rocketdyne of its intellectual property rights and patents specifically for molten salt technology for concentrated solar-thermal power and electricity storage, heliostat designs and collector field control systems. By 2020, the website was no longer active.

Projects

Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project

The 110 MW

Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project The Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project is a solar thermal power project with an installed capacity of 110 megawatt (MW) and 1.1 gigawatt-hours of energy storage located near Tonopah, Nevada, Tonopah, about northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada, L ...

is the world’s first utility-scale facility to use molten salt power tower energy storage. It has 10,347 tracking mirrors (

heliostats A heliostat () is a device that reflects sunlight toward a target, turning to compensate for the Sun's apparent motion. The reflector is usually a plane mirror. The target may be a physical object, distant from the heliostat, or a direct ...

) that follow the sun and reflect and concentrate sunlight onto a heat exchanger, a receiver, atop a tower. Crescent Dunes has 10 hours of storage and was to deliver 500,000 MW hours of electricity per year, day and night, to 75,000 homes. In September, 2011, SolarReserve received a $737 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the project and broke ground. The project had a 25-year agreement with NV Energy for 100 percent of the electricity, but after multiple failures of its molten salt storage tanks, one resulting in an eight month outage, it was terminated by NV Energy in October 2019 due to the project having "failed to produce." Alleging a takeover by the DOE, SolarReserve has raised the possibility of this project filing for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

. The company canceled another Nevada project in 2019.

Redstone Solar Thermal Power Project

The Redstone Solar Thermal Power Project is a planned 100 MW solar project located at Postmasburg, near Kimberly, South Africa. The project will have 12 hours of storage to deliver to more than 200,000 South African homes. In May 2019, it was reported that financing for Redstone was almost complete.

Aurora Solar Thermal Power Project

The Aurora Solar Thermal Power Project was a 150MW solar thermal plant proposed to be built about north of

Port Augusta Port Augusta (''Goordnada'' in the revived indigenous Barngarla language) is a coastal city in South Australia about by road from the state capital, Adelaide. Most of the city is on the eastern shores of Spencer Gulf, immediately south of the ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. The project was expected to cost AUD $650 million and was to be completed by 2020. The promised power delivery price is noted to be competitive with combined-cycle natural-gas plants. On 5 April 2019, South Australian Energy Minister Dan van Holst Pellekaan announced the cancellation of the project. The project may continue with other companies.

Copiapó Solar Project

The

near

Copiapó Copiapó () is a List of cities in Chile, city and communes of Chile, commune in northern Chile, located about 65 kilometers east of the coastal List of towns in Chile, town of Caldera, Chile, Caldera. Founded on December 8, 1744, it is the capi ...

, Atacama Region,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

is a 260 MW hybrid solar power project consisting of CSP and PV energy. It will have 14 hours of storage to deliver to more than 560,000 homes in Atacama. The project is the first of its kind in Chile and will be the largest solar power plant in the world.“Copiapo Solar”: La primera planta hibrida en el pais que operaria las 24 horas
CNN, March 04, 2015 At the 2017 auction, SolarReserve bid $63/MWh ( ¢6.3/kWh) for 24-hour CSP power with no subsidies, competing with other types such as LNG gas turbines.

Photovoltaic

# Lesedi Solar Energy Project # Letsatsi Solar Energy Project # Jasper Solar Energy Project

References

External links

Official SolarReserve website
{{Pratt & Whitney Solar energy companies of the United States Solar energy in California Technology companies based in Greater Los Angeles Companies based in Santa Monica, California Energy companies established in 2008 Renewable resource companies established in 2008 2008 establishments in California American companies established in 2008 Rocketdyne United Technologies