Maricopa Solar is the first commercial project for SES’ SunCatcher CSP technology. It consists of 60 SunCatcher dishes and will have an output of 1.5 MW.

Bob Lukefahr, Tessera Solar North America CEO, says: “Maricopa Solar represents a genuine breakthrough in solar energy and demonstrates that Dish Stirling solar power is now ready for commercial deployment in the US and around the world. With this milestone now behind us we look forward to breaking ground on our initial 1500 MW of projects in California and Texas later this year.”

The SunCatcher is a 25 kW solar CSP system using a 38 ft, mirrored parabolic dish combined with an automatic tracking system to collect and focus the sun’s energy onto a Stirling engine to convert the solar thermal energy into grid-quality electricity.

Other projects

High-volume manufacturing of the SunCatcher will begin this summer, and Tessera Solar is due to break ground on utility-scale CSP projects late this year in California and Texas.

• Imperial Valley is a 750 MW CSP project with the first 300 MW contracted under a power purchase agreement with San Diego Gas & Electric near El Centro, California;
• Calico is a 850 MW CSP project with Southern California Edison near Barstow, California; and
• Western Ranch is a 27 MW CSP project with CPS Energy in West Texas.

This summer, Tessera Solar North America, signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with CPS Energy to develop a 27 MW solar project in West Texas, USA.