The plant employs a proprietary concentrating solar power trough technology developed by Abengoa, and covers an area of. Construction was expected to create about 1,500 construction jobs with the plant employing 85 full-time workers. Solar thermal plants use substantially more water for cooling than other solar generating technologies. Nevertheless, the Sierra Club supports the Solana plant, because it will be built on private land, and use "75 to 85 percent less water than the current agricultural use."
Economics
has contracted to purchase 100% of the power output generated from Solana, to meet theArizona Corporation Commission's mandate that the state's regulated utilities provide 15% of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2025. APS will pay about 14 cents per kWh. The Solana plant was originally planned to open in 2011 and was estimated to cost $2 billion. In December 2010, Abengoa received a $1.45 billion loan guarantee to support construction of the plant.
Energy storage
One of the principal advantages of concentrated solar thermal is that thermal energy storage can be provided efficiently, so that output can be provided after the sun goes down, and output can be scheduled to meet demand requirements. The Solana Generating Station is designed to provide six hours of energy storage. This allows the plant to generate about 38 percent of its rated capacity over the course of a year.
Production
Solana Generating Station's production is as follows. Maximum annual electricity production was planned at 900,000 MW·h. At the end of the fifth full year of operation, the Solana Generating Station is operating 13.8% below the planned maximum production value.
Operations issues
In the summer of 2017, the plant had two transformer fires. The plant also went through some other challenging issues. For example, Maricopa County environmental officials are looking into whether the plant violated air pollution standards. In 2016, Maricopa County fined the plant $1.5 million for violations of air quality standards. According to the Phoenix New Times, "The plant’s parent company, a subsidiary of Abengoa called Atlantica Yield, downplayed the issues, and a company representative said that better times are likely ahead." The plant opened in 2014 and has suffered a number of problems since its opening. According to government documents, the plant is expected to produce 900,000 MWh every year. This amount of electricity could power about 65,000 typical homes in Arizona. However, the plant produced only 600,000 MWh in its first full year of operation, according to information from the Federal Energy Information Administration. In 2015, the output increased to 700,000 MWh. In the summer of 2017, a microburst "knocked out the plant that July." but notwithstanding that, generation reached 723,966 MWh. A CSP thermal power block is like that of a coal or gas-fired plant, except its fuel is sunlight and a typical first year and a half of ramp-up is the norm.
