eSolar lands solar power plant deal

eSolar on Tuesday said that it will build solar thermal power plants that will make 245 megawatts of electricity for Southern California Edison.

The plants will be built in the Antelope Valley of Southern California and begin operating in 2011.

Coming to California: eSolar's heliostat and thermal receiver-based solar power plants.

(Credit: eSolar)

The company, created by Idealabs and funded by Google.org, makes utility-scale concentrating solar power systems with a modular design.

Software-controlled heliostats, or mirrors, reflect light onto a tower where the heat turns water to steam that turns a turbine.

The company raised $130 million in April.

California is a hotbed for utility-scale solar power because the state has relatively aggressive renewable energy targets.

The state's renewable portfolio standard mandates that utilities generate 20 percent of their electricity by 2010 and 33 percent by 2012.

In desert areas like parts of Southern California, concentrating solar thermal technology has become the preferred renewable energy source.

eSolar's technology, however, is a break with the traditional reflective trough now used in a number of power plants around the world.

eSolar says that its heliostat and thermal receiver design cuts down on costs in different areas such as using prefabricated heliostats.

[dbargen]

Meanwhile, in the places of the world where large number of people live (places that aren't deserts) solar can't come anywhere CLOSE to keeping up with coal or nuclear power. When you can't depend on a continuous power source (direct solar rays in this instance) you can't support a power grid period. If you're so worried about emissions, skip the propaganda and 70's eco-alarmist stigma and take a look a nuclear pants. Waste totals are negligible and new technologies can reuse old rods that couldn't be in the past.

If you're all about creating new jobs, consider the millions of concrete workers, engineers, architects, and contractors that could get work in promoting more of these plants.

[dsfargeg]

Though I agree with your view of Nuclear power, I question your dismissal of solar energy as some fad. In response to the intermittancy issue, new concentrating solar systems often have a thermal storage option, such as molten nitrate salts, which act as a heat-capacitor, allowing an electrical generation system to operate at a steady value all day long despite the condition of the sunlight. Additionally, solar is good for much more than electricity, reducing the issue of locality. Concentrating solar systems can be used for reducing zinc or other metal oxides to obtain raw materials without the huge electrical demands typically required. Gasification of coal and biomass is also greatly improved when you supply concentrated solar energy as input heat rather than partially-burning your feedstock. Aside from these concentrated options, basic solar thermal systems (rooftop collectors to supply hot water or space heat / cooling) are common as far north as up here in Minnesota and still perform excellently, fully eliminating hot-water bills in summer, and typically relieving up to 40% of typical heating costs mid-winter. Sure, only solar thermal plants aren't the grand solution, but solar has many many possibilities that ought to be taken advantage of while also increasing nuclear and other carbon-free energy sources.