Solar Powered Tower to Provide the Southwest with Renewable Energy-

Southern California Edison recently signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with eSolar, a scalable solar thermal power plant engineering company, to construct 245 megawatts (MW) of concentrating solar power (CSP) manufacturing units throughout So Cal. eSolar has received $130 million in new investment funds from technology giant, Google, as well as other eager venture capitalists to apply toward construction of this mega-scale solar tower project. The development will be built in the Lancaster area and is projected to begin generating renewable solar energy by the year 2011. The production is expected to increase annually, scaling to 105 MW by 2012 and reaching an astounding 245 megawatts of generated renewable solar power by the year 2013. Southern California Edison is presently the country’s leading consumer of solar energy, with more than 90 percent procured from U.S. production. “Solar is the great untapped energy resource for California – it’s renewable and plentiful,” stated Stuart Hemphill, SCE vice president of Renewable and Alternative Power. “We rely on innovative companies such as eSolar to help expand our industry-leading portfolio and to secure access to the most promising technology solutions.”

In addition to the agreement with SCE, eSolar has announced an investment and development deal with NRG Energy to generate up to 500 MW of CSP. The first industrial plant is expected to begin producing green energy by 2011, and when at peak capability, these units can provide more than 400,000 homes with clean solar electricity. NRG will invest about $10 million into site development and power purchase agreements to build, own and operate eleven eSolar module solar production components. Michael Liebelson – Chief Development Officer of Low-Carbon Technology for NRG Energy – commented on the significant company endeavor, stating, “This is NRG’s first venture into solar power and it brings an exceptionally important component to the low- and no-carbon focus of our Repowering NRG program. By coupling NRG’s construction capabilities and regional operating expertise with eSolar’s innovative CSP technology, we can advance NRG’s renewable energy portfolio while helping to accelerate development of these important projects on a commercial scale.” eSolar’s technology will be ultimately used to sell renewable electricity under contracted PPA’s with local utilities in need of inexpensive, 100% clean power. eSolar is presently completing its first commercial CSP plant in So. Cal and will be the first completely functioning solar thermal power tower plant built in the United States. The world’s largest solar tower currently resides in the municipality of Sanlúcar la Mayor, Spain. Development of this extensive project is assisting eSolar to collect helpful observations regarding design, building and maintenance to supply NRG with groundwork for the successful operation of more commercial scale solar plants.