Giant aims to tap solar scheme

Australian
Monday 29/3/2010 Page: 24

A solar energy giant backed by Google, Chevron, Morgan Stanley and BP has emerged as a major contender in the federal government's $1.5 billion solar power scheme. BrightSource Energy Australian representative Andrew Dyer confirmed the company wanted to build a large-scale solar thermal plant through the commonwealth grant program. The Australian reported earlier this month that Spanish solar giant Cobra Energy was also a contender and planned building a $1bn plant at Mildura in northwest Victoria, or in Queensland.

Mr Dyer said BrightSource Energy hoped to construct a tower-style plant in either Queensland or west of the Great Dividing Range in NSW, northern South Australia, or the Geraldton area of Western Australia. BrightSource Energy has had a 6MW demonstration plant running for two years in Israel's Negev Desert. The company is using that technology as a basis for the three-tower 400MW Ivanpah plant to be constructed in California's Mojave Desert. The US government underwrote the capital investment for Ivanpah in a $1.4bn loan guarantee believed to be the first of its kind for a solar energy project in the US.

The Australian plant would use the basic tower design from Ivanpah, but with two towers about 160m high, capable of generating 250MW. The company has formed a consortium that includes Abigroup, WorleyParsons and Bilfinger Berger to help construct the plant. "We consider Australia our No 2 market outside the US." Mr Dyer said. "It's the strength of the solar resource, the government commitment to renewable energy, the legal system and the companies you can work with here."

BrightSource Energy would not disclose its budget for the plant, but industry sources put the typical cost of solar thermal projects at about $5 per watt, or $1.25bn for the 250MW plant planned under the solar flagships program. Under the program, the commonwealth pays one-third of the capital cost and the winning bidder pays the rest for successful projects. The fund is expected to select bids for one solar thermal plant (which uses steam to generate power) and one photovoltaic plant (which directly generates electricity). A shortlist is expected to be released next month.

BrightSource Energy's forerunner, Luz, developed a 384MW network of plants in California but sold them to a power company when a new state government removed property tax breaks. The nucleus of the Luz team, including chairman Arnold Goldman, then formed BrightSource Energy with the addition of investment from venture capitalist Vantage Point, Google and the firms mentioned above, and the investment arm of the world's largest privately held US company, food and energy conglomerate Cargill. Mr Dyer said the tower design minimised losses and heated steam to a higher temperature than the trough plants used by many rivals, meaning efficient off-the-shelf steam turbines could be used for generation.

Along with Cobra, BrightSource Energy is expected to be joined by Spanish solar companies Abengoa and Acciona Energy in the bidding to build the solar thermal plant. Acciona Energy has a local presence in Australia with wind and water projects and has a 64MW solar facility in Nevada. Abengoa has 100MW of generation in Spain and a large project planned in the US. BrightSource Energy sees its advantage being the use of the tower technology and the endorsement the loan guarantee has provided for its Ivanpah plant. "You need good technology, a good balance sheet and good management," Mr Dyer said.

The proposed BrightSource Energy plant will not use a storage medium to offer night-time generation as ACS-Cobra plans to do but will use gas to continue selling power into profitable markets when the sun goes down. Cobra, a division of Spanish industrial giant ACS, is expected to use the same trough technology employed in its large plants in Spain. This system, using banks of parabolic mirrors, has the advantage of proven long-term reliability. Several other bidders are also thought to be offering a trough plant, although Abengoa has a tower plant running in Spain.

BrightSource Energy said the tower design had up to 50% thermal efficiency versus the 40% of a trough and had less "parasitic" losses as there was no need to pump fluid through long banks of troughs. The tower technology is designed to reflect solar energy to the tip of the tower by adjusting the angle of the banks of flat mirrors. The steam is generated directly, without a fluid medium.