On August 26th, 2010, the California Energy Commission (CEC) announced that its Siting Committee has recommended approval for a 709MW concentrating solar power (CSP) plant based on a Dish Stirling design for California's Imperial Valley. The Imperial Valley Solar Project by Imperial Valley Solar LLC (Houston, Texas, US) is the fifth CSP plant that the CEC's Siting Committee has recommended approval for in the month of August 2010. This decision initiates a 30 day public comment period, after which the CEC will issue a final decision on the project.

Dish Stirling Design

The Imperial Valley Solar Project utilizes a Dish Stirling design, with uses large dish-shaped reflectors to concentrate sunlight onto central Stirling Engines, which drive electrical generators. This Dish Stirling design is far less common than other CSP designs, and the Imperial Valley plant is the only one of the five plants that the CEC is considering which utilizes this design.

CEC approval comes with concerns about impacts.

The plant will be composed of 28,360 25KW dish systems which will sit on 6,500 acres, most of which is managed by the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The 709MW plant is an alternative to a 750MW design originally proposed, and was the preferred choice of the BLM.

The CEC states that the project, even with mitigation measures, will still have significant impacts on biological resources, cultural resources, land use, and visual resources, and is not in line with the Imperial Valley's General Plan, but that it believes the benefits outweigh these factors. The CEC Siting Committee has not voiced similar concerns about other projects that it has recommended approval for and it remains to be seen whether or not the plant will receive final approval.

2010-08-31| Courtesy: California Energy Commission; photo: Stirling Energy Systems | solarserver.com © Heindl Server GmbH

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