Tessera gives up 250 MW CSP project in Arizona - report

(ADPnews) - Sep 28, 2010 - Tessera Solar, a subsidiary of US solar power group Stirling Energy Systems (SES) Inc, has waived plans to build a 250 MW concentrated solar power (CSP) plant in the city of Phoenix, Arizona.

The company was unable to find a purchaser for the facility's power output among the Arizona utilities, Peter Wilt, Tessera's senior director told the Phoenix Business Journal in an interview published on Sunday.

In addition, Wilt said, financing was also a problem for the project to go ahead. Large-scale solar power plants have been difficult to start due to the global financial slowdown that hampered the market.

Houston-based Tessera Solar was poised to construct the USD 1 billion (EUR 742m) project at a city-owned landfill. The facility was planned to use the Stirling SunCatcher, a 40-foot (12.2-metre) mirrored dish that collects sunlight and concentrates it to drive an engine that produces power.

Tessera's project is already the second non-realised utility-scale solar power installation in the past 12 months. In September 2009, a 290 MW power plant, proposed by Starwood Energy Group Global LLC and Lockheed Martin, was aborted due to supply chain issues and financing.

Nevertheless, the city of Phoenix will strive to garner 15% of its power from green power sources by 2025, Rick Naimark, deputy city manager for Phoenix told the news outfit.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.742)

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