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Nevada Solar One
solar field
On February 11
2006, Nevada Solar One (NSO) groundbreaking ceremony took place at the
construction site in Boulder City, Nevada. Construction of the 64‑MW
parabolic trough in Boulder City started immediately after this event. Plant
construction is scheduled to end in April 2007 and commercial operation is
planned for the summer of 2007.
NSO is the
largest solar energy project to be built in the United States since 1991. It
is also the largest renewable generating facility to be built in the State
of Nevada. With a nominal capacity of 64 MW, NSO will annually produce more
than 130,000 million KWh. NSO was initially developed by Solargenix Energy
in 2003 and is jointly owned by Acciona Energia and Solargenix Energy.
Acciona Energia purchased 55% of Solargenix Energy and formed a new Company
named Acciona Solar Power.
The power plant
is composed of 357,000 m2 of second generation parabolic trough collectors
(SGX2) developed by Solargenix Energy with the collaboration of the National
Renewable Energy Laboratory. SGX 2 is an improved space frame design and a
natural evolution from the SGX 1 successfully used in the 1‑MW Saguaro plant
in Arizona. The new space frame was redesigned in order to reduce
fabrication time and cost. The SGX2 collector is extremely accurate, light
and easy to assemble without the need of any complicated or expensive
fabrication jig.
The absorber
tubes used in the project were produced by Solel in Israel and by Schott in
Germany, approx. 30% and 70% respectively.
The Reflector
panels were produced by Flabeg in Germany. Several other mirror prototypes
are installed as well for evaluation.
The power block
located on the West side of the property used a 70‑MW reheat steam turbine
produced by Siemens in Sweden. Only a 2% supplement is allowed in Nevada,
therefore, the plant has only a very small natural gas heater mostly used
for freeze protection. NSO is a solar only system with 30 minutes of thermal
storage used to minimize the effects of transients.
The
administration and control building is a “green” building with many energy-saving
features for lighting and air conditioning, e.g., orientation, insulation,
and natural daylight monitors.
The project is
located approx. 25 miles from Las Vegas and all the electricity produced
will be distributed to the Nevada Power Company grid. Operation and
maintenance will be provided by Acciona Solar Power.
Nevada Solar One
administration and control building
Nevada Solar One
power block |
