ACCIONA’s Nevada Solar One™ — Demonstrating the Commercial Competitiveness of Solar Energy

ACCIONA’s Nevada Solar One™ — is leading the way in solar energy - demonstrating the viability of utility-scale solar power and partnering with the nation’s leading utilities to provide clean electricity to Nevada’s communities. Nevada Solar One is the third largest concentrated solar power plant in the world and generates electricity reliably and affordably for thousands of people in Nevada. ACCIONA is a leader in the clean energy revolution.

The groundbreaking Nevada Solar One plant based in Boulder City, NV, has been in operation since June 2007. At a cost of more than US$260 million dollars, it is the largest concentrating solar power plant to be built in the last 17 years, and is the third largest plant of its kind in the world. Constructed on a lifetime of research and development, the plant demonstrates that concentrating solar power production is economically feasible on a commercial scale.

Producing electricity with near zero-CO2 emissions, ACCIONA’s Nevada Solar One plant has made Nevada the largest per-capita generator of solar energy in the United States. Nevada Power Company and Sierra Pacific Power Company have purchased the plant’s entire electricity production under long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs). The PPAs ensure fixed costs for the electricity, making solar power an economically feasible alternative energy.

Features

• Produces peak power with near zero-CO2 emissions
• The first concentrating solar power (CSP) plant built in the United States in more than 17 years
• The third largest CSP plant in the world
• Utility-scale plant that produces clean electricity
  • Has a nominal production capacity of 64 MW with a maximum capacity of 75 MW
  • Produces enough energy to power more than 14,000 households annually
  • All of the plant’s electricity production is being sold to Nevada Power Company and Sierra Pacific Power Company under long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs)

Location

• Boulder City, Nevada
• Approximately 40 miles southeast of Las Vegas in the Eldorado Valley

Courtesy of Google Maps.

Size

• Total project site: 400 acres
• Solar fields: 300 acres, the size of approximately 200 football fields

Financials

• Represents an investment of $266 million
• Financed through an innovative leveraged lease structure

Project details

• Went online in June 2007
• Constructed over 16 months
• Approximately 28 permanent operations-related jobs created