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Coordinates: 38°14′00″N 117°22′01″W / 38.2333°N 117.367°W / 38.2333; -117.367
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Crescent Dunes is not a PV plant that starts at a flip of a switch
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The '''Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project''' is a 110&nbsp;[[megawatt]] (MW) net<ref>{{cite web |title=Crescent Dunes Solar Thermal Power Plant |url=http://www.grupocobra.com/business/project/crescent-dunes-solar-thermal-power-plant/ |year=2016 |work=Grupo COBRA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604213753/http://www.grupocobra.com/business/project/crescent-dunes-solar-thermal-power-plant/ |archive-date=4 June 2016 |url-status=dead |accessdate=26 May 2019}}</ref> [[solar thermal power]] project with 1.1 gigawatt-hours of energy storage,<ref name=online>{{Cite web |url=http://cleantechnica.com/2016/02/22/crescent-dunes-24-hour-solar-tower-online/ |title=Crescent Dunes 24-Hour Solar Tower Is Online |date=22 February 2016 |website=CleanTechnica |access-date=15 June 2016}}</ref> located near [[Tonopah, Nevada|Tonopah]], about {{convert|190|mi|-1}} northwest of [[Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas]].<ref name="doe-2011-09-28">{{cite press release |url=http://energy.gov/articles/energy-department-finalizes-737-million-loan-guarantee-tonopah-solar-energy-nevada-project |title=Energy Department Finalizes $737 Million Loan Guarantee to Tonopah Solar Energy for Nevada Project |date=28 September 2011 |publisher=Loan Programs Office (LPO), [[United States Department of Energy|Dept. of Energy]] (DOE) |accessdate=2 July 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.energy.gov/lpo/crescent-dunes |title=Crescent Dunes: Project Under Construction |date= 1 September 2015 |publisher=Loan Programs Office (LPO), [[United States Department of Energy|Dept. of Energy]] (DOE) |accessdate=17 January 2016}}</ref>
The '''Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project''' is a 110&nbsp;[[megawatt]] (MW) net<ref>{{cite web |title=Crescent Dunes Solar Thermal Power Plant |url=http://www.grupocobra.com/business/project/crescent-dunes-solar-thermal-power-plant/ |year=2016 |work=Grupo COBRA |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604213753/http://www.grupocobra.com/business/project/crescent-dunes-solar-thermal-power-plant/ |archive-date=4 June 2016 |url-status=dead |accessdate=26 May 2019}}</ref> [[solar thermal power]] project with 1.1 gigawatt-hours of energy storage,<ref name=online>{{Cite web |url=http://cleantechnica.com/2016/02/22/crescent-dunes-24-hour-solar-tower-online/ |title=Crescent Dunes 24-Hour Solar Tower Is Online |date=22 February 2016 |website=CleanTechnica |access-date=15 June 2016}}</ref> located near [[Tonopah, Nevada|Tonopah]], about {{convert|190|mi|-1}} northwest of [[Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas]].<ref name="doe-2011-09-28">{{cite press release |url=http://energy.gov/articles/energy-department-finalizes-737-million-loan-guarantee-tonopah-solar-energy-nevada-project |title=Energy Department Finalizes $737 Million Loan Guarantee to Tonopah Solar Energy for Nevada Project |date=28 September 2011 |publisher=Loan Programs Office (LPO), [[United States Department of Energy|Dept. of Energy]] (DOE) |accessdate=2 July 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.energy.gov/lpo/crescent-dunes |title=Crescent Dunes: Project Under Construction |date= 1 September 2015 |publisher=Loan Programs Office (LPO), [[United States Department of Energy|Dept. of Energy]] (DOE) |accessdate=17 January 2016}}</ref>
It substantially missed its intended power production over its four-year lifespan by only achieving about 20% of its capacity on an annual basis, resulting in lawsuits and changes of control.<ref name="thenevadaindependent.com">https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/nv-energy-sends-termination-notice-to-massive-tonopah-solar-project-developer-accuses-energy-department-of-taking-over</ref><ref>https://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-future-of-crescent-dunes-solar-plant-near-tonopah-appears-bleak-1866768/</ref>
It substantially missed its intended power production over one full-year span by only achieving about 40% of its capacity on an annual basis, resulting in lawsuits and changes of control.<ref name="thenevadaindependent.com"> https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/nv-energy-sends-termination-notice-to-massive-tonopah-solar-project-developer-accuses-energy-department-of-taking-over</ref><ref>https://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-future-of-crescent-dunes-solar-plant-near-tonopah-appears-bleak-1866768/</ref>
The site has not produced commercial electrical power since April 2019, and due to the lack of a timely cure its sole customer has cancelled their contract.<ref>https://pvtimes.com/news/nye-solar-plant-could-be-facing-a-crisis-76113/</ref> While falling far short of its electrical capacity, Crescent Dunes was the first [[concentrated solar power]] (CSP) plant with a central receiver tower and advanced [[molten salt]] energy storage technology from [[SolarReserve]].
The site has not produced power since April 2019, and its sole customer has cancelled their contract.<ref>https://pvtimes.com/news/nye-solar-plant-could-be-facing-a-crisis-76113/</ref> While falling far short of its electrical capacity, Crescent Dunes was the first [[concentrated solar power]] (CSP) plant with a central receiver tower and advanced [[molten salt]] energy storage technology from [[SolarReserve]].


The project, developed by SolarReserve and owned by Tonopah Solar Energy, LLC, Crescent Dunes was anticipated to cost less than $1&nbsp;billion and was backed by a $737&nbsp;million in U.S. government loan guarantees.<ref name="gtm-2011-09-29"/> Due to the course of actual events, as of October 2019 a filing for bankruptcy has been stated as a possible outcome.<ref>https://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/SolarReserveCSPHoldingsLLCvsTonopahSolarEnergyLLCDocketNo20190791?1570209807</ref>
The project, developed by SolarReserve and owned by Tonopah Solar Energy, LLC, Crescent Dunes was anticipated to cost less than $1&nbsp;billion and was backed by a $737&nbsp;million in U.S. government loan guarantees.<ref name="gtm-2011-09-29"/> Due to the course of actual events, as of October 2019 a filing for bankruptcy has been stated as a possible outcome.<ref>https://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/SolarReserveCSPHoldingsLLCvsTonopahSolarEnergyLLCDocketNo20190791?1570209807</ref>

Revision as of 22:30, 15 October 2019

Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project
Map
LandVereinigte Staaten
StandortTonopah, Nye County, Nevada
Coordinates38°14′00″N 117°22′01″W / 38.2333°N 117.367°W / 38.2333; -117.367
StatusShut down due to performance shortfalls; power contract terminated; bankruptcy possible[1]
Construction began2011 (2011)
Commission date2016[2]
Construction cost$0.975 billion
Owner(s)Tonopah Solar Energy, LLC (SolarReserve, LLC)
Solar farm
Typ
CSP technologySolar power tower
Collectors10347 × 115.72 m²
Total collector area296 acres (1,200,000 m2)
Site resource2,685 kW·h/m2/yr[3]
Site area1,670 acres (676 ha)
Power generation
Units operational1
Make and modelAlstom
Nameplate capacity110 MW
Capacity factor51.9% (planned)
20.3% (2018)
Annual net output196 GW·h over 1 year (2018), or 22.4 MW actual average output
Storage capacity1,100 MW·he
External links
WebsiteCrescent Dunes
CommonsRelated media on Commons
[edit on Wikidata]

The Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project is a 110 megawatt (MW) net[4] solar thermal power project with 1.1 gigawatt-hours of energy storage,[2] located near Tonopah, about 190 miles (310 km) northwest of Las Vegas.[5][6] It substantially missed its intended power production over one full-year span by only achieving about 40% of its capacity on an annual basis, resulting in lawsuits and changes of control.[7][8] The site has not produced power since April 2019, and its sole customer has cancelled their contract.[9] While falling far short of its electrical capacity, Crescent Dunes was the first concentrated solar power (CSP) plant with a central receiver tower and advanced molten salt energy storage technology from SolarReserve.

The project, developed by SolarReserve and owned by Tonopah Solar Energy, LLC, Crescent Dunes was anticipated to cost less than $1 billion and was backed by a $737 million in U.S. government loan guarantees.[10] Due to the course of actual events, as of October 2019 a filing for bankruptcy has been stated as a possible outcome.[11]

History

In late September 2011 Tonopah Solar Energy received a $737 million loan guarantee from the United States Department of Energy (DOE).[5] The capital stack included $170,000,000 in EB-5 investment through SolarReserve/ACS Cobra partner CMB Regional Centers.[12][13][7] Under a power purchase agreement (PPA) between SolarReserve and NV Energy, all power generated by the Crescent Dunes project in the next 25 years would have been sold to NV Energy for $0.135 per kilowatt-hour.[10] For comparison, the average U.S. cost per kilowatt-hour in 2011 was $0.12, and in 2019 the cost has risen to $0.133, so NV Energy's deal was essentially market-rate and competitively neither high nor low.[14][15]

Ground was broken on the project in September 2011.[16] Construction terminated at the end of 2013, followed by several months of testing the plant systems. The project entered commissioning phase in February 2014 following completion of construction.[17] It began operation in September 2015,[18] but went off-line in October 2016 due to a leak in a molten salt tank. It returned to operation in July 2017.[19]

Due to actual versus advertised power production, NV Energy—the project's sole customer—terminated its contract in October 2019 on the basis of the project having "failed to produce." Alleging a takeover of Tonopah Solar Energy by the DOE, SolarReserve has raised the possibility of the project filing for bankruptcy.[1][20]

Technologie

The project's EPC Contractor was ACS Cobra, which carried out the engineering design, procured the equipment and materials necessary, and then constructed and delivered the facility to Tonopah Solar Energy. The project includes 10,347 heliostats that collect and focus the sun's thermal energy to heat molten salt flowing through an approximately 640-foot (200 m) tall solar power tower. Each heliostat is made up of 35 6×6 feet (1.8 m) mirror facets, yielding a heliostat overall usable area of 1,245 square feet (115.7 m2). Total solar field aperture adds up to 12,882,015 square feet (1,196,778 m2). The molten salt circulates from the tower to a storage tank, where it is then used to produce steam and generate electricity.

Excess thermal energy is stored in the molten salt and could be used to generate power for up to ten hours, including during the evening hours and when direct sunlight is not available.[5] The storage technology thus eliminated the need for any backup fossil fuels, such as natural gas. Melting about 70,000,000 pounds (32,000,000 kg) of salt took two months. Once melted, the salt stays melted for the life of the plant and is cycled through the receiver for reheating.[21]

Maximum energy output was re-estimated at 500 GWh annually (57.1 MW average rate),[22] though the highest producing year thus far, 2018, only attained 40% of that, resulting in a capacity factor of about 20% of the original, nameplate 110 MW.

Production

Crescent Dunes began operation in September 2015,[18] but went off-line in October 2016 due to a leak in a molten salt tank. It returned to operation in July 2017.[19] While its average monthly production was expected to exceed 40,000 MWh, as of May 2019 it never reached that value and only exceeded half of it during 9 months.[23]

Generation (MW·h) of Crescent Dunes Solar Energy[24]
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Total
2015 1,703 1,831 0 3,534
2016 1,504 9,095 7,099 2,158 11,485 6,216 25,560 28,267 30,514 5,410 0 0 127,308
2017 0 0 0 0 0 0 9,420 9,192 13,666 9,263 488 0 42,029
2018 795 5,145 5,907 13,801 10,653 33,387 23,749 33,169 31,632 21,253 8,130 8,189 195,810
2019 12,889 14,431 20,041 2,807 0 0 0 0 0 50,168
Total (2015-2019) 418,849
  • 2012 January - The solar tower under construction as seen from a commercial airliner. The titular Crescent Dunes are at lower right.
    2012 January - The solar tower under construction as seen from a commercial airliner. The titular Crescent Dunes are at lower right.
  • 2014 August - Completed site as seen from a commercial airliner.
    2014 August - Completed site as seen from a commercial airliner.
  • 2014 December - Completed site.
    2014 December - Completed site.
  • 2016 August - Crescent Dunes in operation as seen from a commercial airliner.
    2016 August - Crescent Dunes in operation as seen from a commercial airliner.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2019/10/07/will-doe-take-the-crescent-dunes-solar-project-into-bankruptcy/
  2. ^ a b "Crescent Dunes 24-Hour Solar Tower Is Online". CleanTechnica. 22 February 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  3. ^ Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
  4. ^ "Crescent Dunes Solar Thermal Power Plant". Grupo COBRA. 2016. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  5. ^ a b c "Energy Department Finalizes $737 Million Loan Guarantee to Tonopah Solar Energy for Nevada Project" (Press release). Loan Programs Office (LPO), Dept. of Energy (DOE). 28 September 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  6. ^ "Crescent Dunes: Project Under Construction". Loan Programs Office (LPO), Dept. of Energy (DOE). 1 September 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2016.
  7. ^ a b https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/nv-energy-sends-termination-notice-to-massive-tonopah-solar-project-developer-accuses-energy-department-of-taking-over
  8. ^ https://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-future-of-crescent-dunes-solar-plant-near-tonopah-appears-bleak-1866768/
  9. ^ https://pvtimes.com/news/nye-solar-plant-could-be-facing-a-crisis-76113/
  10. ^ a b Wesoff, Eric (29 September 2011). "DOE Races Against the Clock: Two Solar Loans Closed, Seven More to Go". Greentech Media. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
  11. ^ https://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/SolarReserveCSPHoldingsLLCvsTonopahSolarEnergyLLCDocketNo20190791?1570209807
  12. ^ "CMB - EB5 Visa". www.cmbeb5visa.com. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
  13. ^ "CMB - EB5 Visa". www.cmbeb5visa.com. Retrieved 2017-03-27.
  14. ^ https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2011/10/27/141766341/the-price-of-electricity-in-your-state
  15. ^ https://www.chooseenergy.com/electricity-rates-by-state/
  16. ^ Tetreault, Steve (28 September 2011). "Nevada solar project to get $737 million federal loan guarantee". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
  17. ^ "Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, Nevada, United States of America". Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  18. ^ a b National Renewable Energy Laboratory (10 November 2015). "Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project".
  19. ^ a b Las Vegas Review-Journal (21 July 2017). "Nevada solar plant back online after eight-month outage".
  20. ^ https://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/SolarReserveCSPHoldingsLLCvsTonopahSolarEnergyLLCDocketNo20190791?1570209807
  21. ^ Hashem, Heba (4 April 2014). "No drama as SolarReserve commissions world's largest CSP tower with storage". CSP Today Business Intelligence. FC Business Intelligence Limited. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
  22. ^ "Crescent Dunes". www.solarreserve.com. Archived from the original on 14 August 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  23. ^ SolarReserve still falling short at flagship solar tower project
  24. ^ "Crescent Dunes Solar Energy, Monthly". Electricity Data Browser. Energy Information Administration. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
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