Abengoa Gets Some Green for a Solar Plant That Works at Night

Abengoa's Solona project -- the first large-scale solar plant in the U.S. capable of storing and using the energy it generates even when the sun isn't shining -- has been thwarted for nearly two years by a recession-fueled credit crunch. Until now. The Energy Department awarded the Spanish solar company a $1.45 billion loan guarantee -- one of two announced over the holiday weekend -- to build its Solona Generating Station near Gila Bend, Ariz.

The difficulty of securing decent loans -- or venture capital funds -- in this post-recession era isn't an uncommon problem in the clean energy industry. Which is why a company like Abengoa spent more than a year working with the DOE on the loan. The same goes for Abound Solar, a Colorado-based thin-film cadmium telluride solar manufacturer, which was awarded a $400 million loan guarantee this week as well. The company has been chasing after that loan guarantee since at least April 2009.

In short, the loan guarantees allow companies to get cheap loans. For Abengoa, it will kick start a project that solves one of the cruxes in solar power: once the sun sets, so does the energy. The Solona project stores energy produced by the sun for later use. This means a more reliable and cheaper power source.

Here's how it works: The Solona project will use parabolic mirrors to concentrate solar thermal energy on to a heat transfer fluid. Once it's heated, the liquid converts water into steam, which powers the plant's turbines to create electricity. The plant is able to keep costs low by using fewer solar modules. The 280-megawatt project will generate enough electricity to serve 70,000 customers of APS, a regional utility, when operating at full capacity.

The important piece of the project lies with the large buildings -- that contain molten salt -- that are located next to the steam boilers. Instead of immediately generating steam, the transfer fluid can be used to heat the molten salt during "peak" early evening hours when low light dusk conditions make it difficult to generate energy through mirrors. Electricity can be made from heat energy created up to six hours earlier.

The Solona project also will provide a much-needed boost to Phoenix's economy. The construction phase will employ about 1,600 people; and later, 85 skilled workers to run the facility. Two assembly factories will be constructed on site; and a new mirror manufacturing facility will be located nearby to supply the 900,000 mirrors needed for the Solona project, according to statement from the White House.

For Abound Solar, the loan guarantee provides crucial funding if it hopes to compete with First Solar, a giant in the industry. Abound Solar, which opened its first plant last year, uses cadmium telluride as the raw material in its solar panels, which puts the company in direct competition with First Solar and start-up Sunovia. The $400 million loan guarantee will be used to build two new plants in Colorado and Indiana and will add considerable manufacturing capacity. Upon completion, the project will be able to manufacture enough panels each year to support up to 840 megawatts of new solar power annually. The project is expected to reach full capacity by 2013, according to the DOE.

Abound's plant projects will create jobs as well, a point President Obama made special note of during his weekly video address when he announced the loan guarantees. Abound anticipates the project will create about 2,000 jobs during construction and 1,500 permanent jobs.

Photo from Flickr user ecastro, CC 2.0; Photo of Solona parabolic trough from Abengoa