First Solar Thermal Power Manufacturing Plant in the United States Being Built in Nevada
The 130,000-square-foot, highly automated manufacturing and distribution center will make the solar thermal power plants' reflectors, towers, absorber tubes, and other core components. The plant will open in April of 2008 and is expected to employ 50 highly skilled workers.
Ausra develops and deploys utility-scale solar thermal power technology to serve global electricity needs in a reliable, market-driven, and environmentally harmonious way. Its power plants use fields of mirrors to capture the sun's power, producing electricity void of pollution. Solar thermal power plants have the ability to store energy as heat in order to continue power generation at night or during cloudy periods.
Ausra's innovations in mirror systems have brought down the price of solar power on a par with that of gas-fired electricity today, and will soon reach prices on a par with coal-fired electricity generation.
Ausra claims that its product design has relatively low manufacturing costs and a resulting lower cost per kilowatt for utilities because it uses less steel than mirrored troughs and standard components, such as architectural glass, making it independent from specialized suppliers.
According to Ausra, the corporation derives its name from the Lithuanian goddess of the dawn, who in turn was descended from the very ancient Indo-European goddess of the sunrise named "Hausos" or "Ausus", although the root also appears in several other forms, including the Greek Eos meaning "dawn," the Latin "aurora," and the Sanskrit "ushas." In modern Lithuanian, the word means "dawn".
The letters spelling out the name are also intended to invoke Australia (where the company originates), the U.S., and the ancient Egyptian sun god Ra.
"Ausra can fill four square miles with solar collectors every year from this one factory, enough to provide market-priced zero-pollution power to 500,000 homes...With market-priced solar power, we are entering the Solar Decade, in which massive construction of solar plants will take place. We are investing now in the systems and capacity to serve that need," said Bob Fishman, president and CEO of Ausra.
"We chose to locate in Nevada because it is the center of America's solar energy future. Nevada has massive solar resources, available land and a growing demand for clean energy," said Rob Morgan, Ausra executive vice president and chief development officer.
"The business-friendly environment we enjoy here provides Ausra and other companies a wealth of benefits. Ausra's decision to locate here points to Nevada becoming a leader in building and delivering clean power to our state, to our region, and to our country," said Somer Hollingsworth, president and CEO of the Nevada Development Authority.
Ausra's executive vice president John O'Donnell has said that the new plant will more than double the global solar thermal system output.
According to Emerging Energy Research, there are 5800 megawatts of solar concentrated solar power projects in the planning stages around the globe, and the potential investment is anticipated to reach $20 billion within the next five years.
Original Newswire Source:
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Published by Brant McLaughlin
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6 Comments
Post a CommentPlease be in mind that the amount of solar energy we take today in no way diminishes is the amount we can take tomorrow or any time in the future.
Solar Power Queensland
I think certain people need to be beaten with a clue-bat regarding nuclear energy. That would be CB and the Laughing Man.
Sounds like good technology, great article!
Yes, Kent seems to think putting in a Nuke plant is an inexpensive no-brainer. So Kent...where do you live and do you mind if we put in a Nuke plant a few miles from your house?
I'm surpised Kent can type he's so blind. I'd rather our government was spending money on subsidizing renewable energy sources and therefore jumpstarting the most important industry of the future then spending it on a useless and damaging war in Iraq. And who says wind is primitive? Wind is a great source, and when the wind doesn't blow as hard you pick it up in other areas such as solar, nuclear, hydro, etc..
Finally, an alternative energy (other than hydroelectric and geothermal and biocoal) that makes sense and can produce enough power to make a difference. No govt subsidies should heretofore be wasted on non-dispatchable, practically valueless
electricity produced by primitive technologies such as wind and non-dispatchable wave machines. They not only cost 5 times more than nucelar plants to build, but cause even greater expenses by failing to meet any new energy demands by their almost complete inability to provide electricity when its most needed, during peak demand periods. Environmentalists have sold the country a real bill of goods by pushing wind and wave and hiding their gross deficiencies from the public.
Shame on you, green people. Quit shilling for the wind manufacturers.