Bechtel Construction Company (Frederick, Maryland) and two California labor organizations on December 17th, 2009 announced an agreement for the construction of the "Ivanpah Solar Electricity Generating System" by BrightSource Energy (Oakland, California), a 440 megawatt (MW) solar power facility in southeastern California.

Under the Project Labor Agreement (PLA), the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California (SBCTC) and the Building & Construction Trades Council of the San Bernardino and Riverside Counties will provide qualified, skilled craft workers to BrightSource's Ivanpah project, while Bechtel pledges to provide fair wages, fringe benefits, and working conditions for all craft workers. "This project is a great example of how the new green technology is now providing real jobs for thousands of workers," said Robert Balgenorth, President of the SBCTC. "This PLA ensures that the jobs will provide good wages and benefits for workers, who will provide the highest quality of work, resulting in new, cleaner energy for generations to come."

Solar thermal power plant to provide 150,000 homes with clean, renewable energy

BrightSource's Ivanpah facility is comprised of three solar thermal power plants. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2010 pending final permitting by the California Energy Commission (CEC) and by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The project is expected to create approximately 1,000 jobs at the peak of construction, with total construction wages of approximately 250 million US-dollars. The Ivanpah plants are to produce enough clean energy to power 150,000 homes and to displace more than 450,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually. The power generated from these solar plants is to be sold under separate contracts to the utilities Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E; San Francisco, California) and Southern California Edison (SCE; Rosemead, California). "We're pleased that Bechtel and California labor unions have been able to conclude the PLA for our Ivanpah project," said John Woolard, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President of BrightSource Energy. "Ivanpah will be a model clean energy project, setting the bar with its highly-efficient technology and environmentally-responsible design."

Solar thermal tower plant designed to minimize environmental impact, conserve water

The Ivanpah facility is to utilize BrightSource Energy's "Luz Power Tower 550" (LPT 550) technology. According to the press release, the system produces electricity like traditional power plants by creating high temperature steam to turn a turbine. However, instead of using fossil fuels or nuclear power to create the steam, BrightSource uses thousands of mirrors called heliostats to reflect sunlight onto a boiler filled with water that sits atop a tower. When the sunlight hits the boiler, the water inside is heated and creates high temperature steam which is used to run a conventional turbine to generate electricity. The system is also said to be designed to minimize the environmental impact by reducing the need for extensive land grading and concrete pads. In order to conserve precious desert water, the LPT 550 system is to use air-cooling to convert the steam back into water, resulting in a 90 % reduction in water usage compared to conventional wet-cooling.

2009-12-30 | Courtesy: www.bechtel.com/2009-12-17.html | solarserver.com © Heindl Server GmbH