The Mojave Solar Project (MSP) is a concentrated solar power (CSP) facility in the Mojave Desert in California, about northwest of Barstow. Surrounding the hamlet of Lockhart, Mojave Solar is adjacent to Harper Lake and the SEGS VIII–IX solar plant.

The site was originally reserved for the planned, never built, SEGS IX and XII. For 15 years following its construction in 1990, SEGS VIII–IX was the largest commercial solar power plant in the world, generating around 160 MW at its peak. It is one of three separately owned sites within of one another, that make up the nine solar fields in the Solar Electric Generating System (SEGS #1 and 2 are at Daggett, and #3 through 7 are at Kramer Junction). Harper Lake was the last of these built, and is designated as SEGS #8 and 9. It is still online, but has been surpassed by other newer facilities, including the Mojave Solar Project.

MSP, with a combined nameplate capacity of 250 MW (gross 280 MW), is made of two, independently operable, solar fields. The power plant cost an estimated $1.6 billion in total and entered commercial operation in December 2014.csp-world.com , 2 December 2014 The developer, Abengoa, has successfully secured a $1.2 billion loan guarantee from the US government for the project.Abengoa Solar Abengoa Solar - The Mojave Solar Project The plant is expected to generate 617,000 MWh of power annually, enough power for more than 88,000 households and to prevent the emission of over 430 kilotons of CO2 a year. Pacific Gas & Electric has agreed to a 25-year power purchase agreement.

The plant was commissioned on 1 December 2014.

Technology

Using the desert's solar thermal energy, the facility generates steam in solar steam generators, which expands through a steam turbine generator to produce electrical power from twin, independently operable solar fields, each feeding a 125 MW power island. Generation is provided 100% from sun, no supplement from fossil-based energy sources. There is a gas-fired auxiliary boiler, for each field, only to provide equipment and heat-transfer fluid (HTF) freeze protection, when temperatures fall below .

The power cycle is a Rankine-with-reheat thermodynamic cycle from heat supplied via heat-transfer fluid, solar field heated up to . When operating, the transfer fluid enters the solar field at about . The steam generator steam exit temperature is about .

Each field utilizes 1128 solar collector arrays (SCA) sited on about . Each SCA, model E2 from Abengoa (derived from Luz's LS-3), is long and is made of 10 solar collector elements (SCE), long each and aperture. The E2 steel frame collector with monolithic glass reflector panels, yields a total aperture area of . That makes a total of aperture each solar field, total for the plant, operating about 3,024 hours per year.

Cooling is provided by wet cooling towers; water for the towers and solar collector washing, is supplied from onsite groundwater wells. Water from condensed steam exits the cooling tower pump at about , before cycling back to the steam generator.

Production Mojave Solar Project production is as follows (values in MW·h).

+Generation (MW·h) of Mojave Solar Project Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total 2015 4,816 28,254 49,104 57,830 49,132 43,618 64,353 63,367 57,559 37,406 32,818 15,319 503,576 2016 4,635 42,348 41,890 54,991 75,569 80,338 87,565 79,153 68,245 45,346 30,315 14,512 624,907 2017 6,055 22,196 54,504 61,408 76,179 78,362 74,443 58,478 63,663 55,255 21,81821,669 594,030 2018 21,688 37,489 48,733 42,966 78,035 84,956 70,267 71,788 74,929 51,473 13,976 8,880 605,180 2019 7,515 11,390 46,369 58,355 58,087 77,835 68,904 59,394 46,771 47,293 25,166 7,405 514,484 2020 12,129 34,521 36,296 52,915 76,143 62,317 84,935 70,617 42,023 42,479 27,705 16,334 558,414 2021 12,791 12,868 47,671 68,076 80,161 72,881 62,811 74,112 63,478 43,962 33,885 15,281 587,977 2022 11,423 20,956 55,560 66,317 76,011 80,549 71,095 66,275 56,939 48,817 27,423 14,337 595,702 2023 16,981 20,739 40,762 73,168 78,781 77,368 82,415 68,125 63,301 49,837 27,686 13,239 612,402Total (2015–2023) 5,196,672

Maximum production was planned at 617,000 MW·h per year.

See also

List of solar thermal power stations Renewable energy in the United States Solar power plants in the Mojave Desert Solar thermal energy

References

External links