NTR to Build Solar Plant in Arizona
Aug 20 - Irish Times
NTR plans to build its first large-scale solar power plant with the
deployment of 60 SunCatcher machines in Arizona within five months.
The firm expects the 1.5 megawatt (MW) project to demonstrate the
commercial viability of a system that uses mirrors to concentrate the
sun's energy on to an engine which converts thermal energy to
grid-quality electricity.
While the system developed by NTR's Stirling Energy Systems (SES) unit
boasts high power conversion efficiency and minimal water usage, the
achievement of consistent manufacturing quality and efficiencies of
scale will be a crucial test for the Arizona plant.
NTR declined to quantify the scale of its investment in the Maricopa
solar farm, located at West Valley in the greater Phoenix area.
The project will be "a reference plant" for larger commercial projects
in California and Texas with 1,600MW of power capacity.
Although each SunCatcher dish has been shown in tests to generate up to
25,000 watts, the business may have a requirement to build as many as
6,000 for a commercially viable development. SES has 10 working
SunCatchers, but only four use the design that will be rolled out in the
Maricopa project.
The project will be located next to the Agua Fria power plant in Peoria,
Arizona, run by US utility group Salt River Project (SRP). NTR's Tessera
Solar unit will lease the land from SRP, which will buy the solar
energy.
NTR spent $100 million ([euro]70.15 million) last year to buy 51 per
cent of SES, a deal that followed the sale of the West-Link bridge to
the Government and the sale of its Airtricity windfarms to Eon and
Scottish Southern Energy.
NTR has engaged investment banks Goldman Sachs and Standard Chartered
Bank to advise on its preparations to return to the international
capital markets next year to raise as much as $950 million to fund the
development of its solar and wind energy projects.
The banks are advising how NTR could raise $250 million in equity for
Stirling and debt of $250 million to fund the commercial development of
the SunCatcher system.
NTR also has a controlling stake in Missouri-based wind farm company
Wind Capital Group.
Originally published by ARTHUR BEESLEY, Senior Business Correspondent.
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