Solana Generating Station

The Solana Generating Station is a solar power plant near Gila Bend, Arizona, about 70 miles (110 km) southwest of Phoenix, completed in 2013. When commissioned it was the largest parabolic trough plant in the world and the first U.S. solar plant with molten salt thermal energy storage.[3] Built by the Spanish company Abengoa Solar, it has a total capacity of 280 megawatts (MW) gross, from two 140 MW gross (125 MW net) steam turbine generators, which is enough to power 70,000 homes while avoiding around 475,000 tons of CO₂ every year.[4] Its name is the Spanish term for "sunny spot".[5]

Solana Generating Station Project
Assembly of the parabolic mirrors
Country	United States
Location	Maricopa County
Coordinates	32°55′N 112°58′W
Status	Operational
Construction began	December 2010
Commission date	2013
Construction cost	US$2 billion
Owner(s)	Atlantica Yield[1] Liberty Interactive Corporation
Operator(s)	Arizona Solar One LLC
Solar farm
Type	CSP
CSP technology	Parabolic trough
Collectors	3,232
Total collector area	2,233,958 square metres (552.023 acres)
Site area	1,920 acres (780 ha)
Power generation
Units operational	2
Make and model	Siemens[2]
Nameplate capacity	250 MW
Capacity factor	35.4% (2018)
Annual net output	776 GW·h (2018)
Storage capacity	1,500 MW·he
External links
Commons	Related media on Commons

Technology

The plant employs a proprietary concentrating solar power (CSP) trough technology developed by Abengoa, and covers an area of 1,920 acres (780 ha). Construction was expected to create about 1,500 construction jobs with the plant employing 85 full-time workers.[6][7] Solar thermal plants use substantially more water for cooling than other solar generating technologies. Nevertheless, the Sierra Club supports the Solana plant, because it will be built on private land, and use "75 to 85 percent less water than the current agricultural use."[8]

Economics

Arizona Public Service (APS) has contracted to purchase 100% of the power output generated from Solana, to meet the Arizona Corporation Commission's (ACC) mandate that the state's regulated utilities provide 15% of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2025. APS will pay about 14 cents per kWh.[9] The Solana plant was originally planned to open in 2011 and was estimated to cost $2 billion.[10] In December 2010, Abengoa received a $1.45 billion loan guarantee to support construction of the plant.[11]

Energy storage

Construction of the Salt Tanks

One of the principal advantages of concentrated solar thermal (CST) is that thermal energy storage can be provided efficiently,[12] so that output can be provided after the sun goes down, and output can be scheduled to meet demand requirements.[13] The Solana Generating Station is designed to provide six hours of energy storage. This allows the plant to generate about 38 percent of its rated capacity over the course of a year.[14]

Production

Solana Generating Station's production is as follows.[15]

Generation (MW·h) of Solana Generating Station [15]

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2013									0	45,230	23,839	20,179	89,248
2014	29,945	31,825	49,358	50,325	75,221	78,231	59,276	52,191	63,406	62,693	33,735	17,361	603,567
2015	12,165	27,259	51,698	82,237	88,122	91,097	86,217	91,475	63,135	49,469	46,262	29,707	718,843
2016	33,173	37,399	51,744	57,353	88,255	88,994	84,981	42,855	51,387	50,595	35,073	21,861	643,670
2017	22,550	34,934	78,837	89,629	86,648	115,921	23,376	63,812	81,571	72,194	30,596	23,898	723,966
2018	33,078	38,661	48,242	68,419	106,877	106,604	87,204	87,032	90,027	54,029	41,303	14,537	776,013
2019	29,041	26,957	61,997	88,945	91,002	111,993	89,483	99,268	71,398	76,043	25,171	20,344	791,642
Total													4,346,949

Maximum annual electricity production was planned at 900,000 MW·h (900 GW·h).[16] At the end of the fifth full year of operation, the Solana Generating Station is operating 13.8% below the planned maximum production value.[15]

Operations issues

In the summer of 2017, the plant had two transformer fires.[17] The plant also went through some other challenging issues. For example, Maricopa County environmental officials are looking into whether the plant violated air pollution standards. In 2016, Maricopa County fined the plant $1.5 million for violations of air quality standards. According to the Phoenix New Times, "The plant’s parent company, a subsidiary of Abengoa called Atlantica Yield, downplayed the issues, and a company representative said that better times are likely ahead."[17]

The plant opened in 2014 and has suffered a number of problems since its opening. According to government documents, the plant is expected to produce 900,000 MWh every year. This amount of electricity could power about 65,000 typical homes in Arizona. However, the plant produced only 600,000 MWh in its first full year of operation, according to information from the Federal Energy Information Administration. In 2015, the output increased to 700,000 MWh. In the summer of 2017, a microburst "knocked out the plant that July."[17] but notwithstanding that, generation reached 723,966 MWh.

A CSP thermal power block is like that of a coal or gas-fired plant, except its fuel is sunlight and a typical first year and a half of ramp-up is the norm.[18]

See also

• Energy storage
• List of energy storage projects
• Solar power in Arizona
• SEGS, nine solar power plants in California's Mojave Desert.

References

1. "Our Assets". Atlantica Yield (was Abengoa Yield). 2 November 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
2. "Solana Project Description". Atlantica Yield (was Abengoa Yield). Retrieved 7 March 2016.
3. Mearian, Lucas. U.S. flips switch on massive solar power array that also stores electricity: The array is first large U.S. solar plant with a thermal energy storage system, October 10, 2013. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
4. "Solana, the largest parabolic trough plant in the world". Abengoa. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
5. "Solana" in wordreference.com
6. Abengoa to Build 280MW Concentrating Solar Power Plant in Arizona Archived 2013-10-19 at the Wayback Machine, CleanEdge.com website, February 21, 2008.
7. Lavelle, Marianne. Big Solar Project Planned for Arizona Desert: $1 billion installation would use parabolic mirrors to generate power southwest of Phoenix Archived 2009-08-28 at the Wayback Machine, U.S. News & World Report, February 21, 2008.
8. Gelt, Joe (2008). "Clean, Green Solar Power Falls Short in Achieving Water Efficiency". Arizona Water Resource (Arizona Water Resource, vol. 17, no. 1, 16pp., Water Resources Research Center, Tucson, AZ, Autumn 2008). University of Arizona, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Retrieved 2008-12-04.
9. Randazzo, Ryan (February 21, 2008). "Plant to brighten state's solar future". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
10. Randazzo, Ryan (July 3, 2010). "Arizona solar plant gets big boost from feds". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2010-07-03.
11. "Abengoa closes $1.45 billion federal loan guarantee for Arizona solar farm". Reuters. Dec 21, 2010.
12. Wright, matthew; Hearps, Patrick; et al. Australian Sustainable Energy: Zero Carbon Australia Stationary Energy Plan, Energy Research Institute, University of Melbourne, October 2010, p. 33. Retrieved from BeyondZeroEmissions.org website.
13. Innovation in Concentrating Thermal Solar Power (CSP), RenewableEnergyFocus.com website.
14. Solana: 10 Facts You Didn't Know About the Concentrated Solar Power Plant Near Gila Bend
15. "Solana Generating Station, Monthly". Electricity Data Browser. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
16. "Solana". Loan Programs Office. www.energy.gov. U.S. Department of Energy. 2010. Archived from the original on 3 May 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2019. Solana is expected to generate 900,000 megawatt-hours of clean energy per year
17. Stern, Ray (2017-08-30). "Dark Clouds — Transformer Fires and Air Pollution — Continue to Follow Solana Power Plant". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved 2017-09-07.
18. Kraemer, Susan (30 November 2017). "How Has Spain's Concentrated Solar Thermal Power Performed?". www.solarpaces.org. SolarPACES. Archived from the original on 2 January 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2019.

Further reading

• Wald, Matthew L. Arizona Utility Tries Storing Solar Energy for Use in the Dark, The New York Times, October 18, 2013, p. B1 (New York edition); also published online at NYTimes.com on October 17, 2013. Retrieved October 18, 2013. Discusses BrightSource Energy, Electric Power Research Institute, Ivanpah Solar Power Facility project, and the Solana Generating Station project.

External links

• "Solana Generating Station Project". Abengoa Solar Inc. Archived from the original on 2013-06-19. Retrieved 2008-12-04.
• "APS :: Solana - Arizona's Largest Solar Power Plant". Arizona Public Service (APS). Retrieved 2008-12-04.
• Arizona Utility to Buy Power from a 280-Megawatt Solar Power Plant
• "Solana Generating Station". Concentrating Solar Power Projects. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). February 23, 2013. Retrieved 2019-09-12.