Tonopah solar project gets Energy Department help

Development of a commercial solar power plant outside of Tonopah that is expected to create more than 600 construction jobs will be backed by a $737 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced Thursday.

The 110-megawatt Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project will create 4,000 direct and indirect jobs nationwide to "supply the facility with the pieces and parts it needs," said Kevin Smith, CEO of project developer SolarReserve.

The facility will have 50 employees on-site, and is expected to generate $40 million in tax revenues in its first decade of operation.

The Department of Energy's renewable energy loan guarantee program is providing the conditional guarantee. The program, which was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, was on the chopping block for fiscal year 2011, but was rescued with a compromise that said projects will only be backed if they can get off the ground by Sept. 30.

NV Energy inked a 25-year purchase agreement with Los-Angeles based SolarReserve in 2009 to buy electricity from the plant, which is expected to break ground by mid-July or early August, Smith said.

According to numbers obtained by the Review-Journal last year, NV Energy has agreed to pay 13.5 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity generated by the Tonopah plant.

That number is more than triple the 4 cents per kilowatt hour that the utility company has paid for wholesale power, which largely comes from natural-gas generation, in recent years.

Crescent Dunes is expected to produce 500,000 megawatt hours annually. Secretary Chu said the facility will be able to power 32,000 homes during peak electricity hours.

Reid touted the project's technology and scope .

"I don't think people realize how big this project is," he said.

Crescent Dunes will use mirrors to focus the sun's rays on a 640-foot-tall solar tower. Molten salt will capture heat from the reflected sunlight, running through the tower into storage tanks. The facility's storage capability will enable utilities to tap solar power at night.

Smith said SolarReserve is lining up contractors and finalizing the project's loan documents before launching this summer.

Contact reporter Caitlin McGarry at cmcgarry@lvbusinesspress.com or 702-387-5273.