[LDES-coremodel] World’s longest-operating solar thermal facility is retiring most of its capacity - Today in Energy - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

Tue Sep 21 12:04:58 PDT 2021

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> SEPTEMBER 20, 2021
> World’s longest-operating solar thermal facility is retiring most of its capacity <https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=49616#>
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> Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Preliminary Electric Generator Inventory <https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860m/>
> Note: SEGS 1 and SEGS 2 were replaced by photovoltaic systems Sunray 2 and Sunray 3, respectively, in 2017 after being decommissioned. They appear in EIA data as Sunray 2 and Sunray 3.
> The Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) facility in California’s Mojave Desert retired five of its solar plants (SEGS 3 through 7) in July 2021 and plans to retire a sixth (SEGS 8) in September 2021, based on information submitted to EIA and published in our Preliminary Electric Generator Inventory <https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860m/>. After SEGS 8 is retired, only one solar thermal unit at SEGS will remain operating (SEGS 9). SEGS, which began operating in 1984, is the world’s longest-operating solar thermal power facility.
> Solar thermal power plants <https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/solar/solar-thermal-power-plants.php#:~:text=Solar%20thermal%20power%2Felectric%20generation,heat%20needed%20to%20generate%20electricity.&text=The%20steam%20is%20converted%20into,a%20generator%20to%20produce%20electricity.> use mirrors to focus sunlight onto a receiver, which absorbs and converts the sunlight into thermal energy (heat). The heat is used to drive a turbine, which produces electricity. The SEGS units are parabolic trough <https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/solar/solar-thermal-power-plants.php> concentrating solar thermal power (CSP) systems, meaning that parabolic (u-shaped) mirrors capture and concentrate sunlight to heat synthetic oil in a central tube, which then boils water to create steam. The steam drives the turbine, generating electricity.
> The 356-megawatt (MW) SEGS facility was originally made up of nine solar thermal plants. SEGS 1 and 2 were retired in 2015 and replaced with two solar photovoltaic (PV) farms, Sunray 2 and Sunray 3. SEGS 3 through 7 (each with 36 MW of capacity) came online from 1986 to 1988. SEGS 8 and 9 (each with 88 MW of capacity) came online in 1989 and 1990, respectively.
> Solar thermal plants account for a relatively small share of utility-scale U.S. solar electric generating capacity. As of June 2021, the United States had about 52,600 MW of utility-scale solar capacity. Of that total, 3.3% was solar thermal; the remaining 96.7% was utility-scale solar PV.
> Although solar capacity in the United States is increasing rapidly, most of the capacity additions in recent years have been solar PV. About 42,000 MW of utility-scale PV capacity was added to the U.S. power grid between 2015 and June 2021; no additional solar thermal capacity has been added since the Crescent Dunes <https://www.power-technology.com/projects/crescent-dunes-solar-energy-project-nevada/> plant came online in 2015.
> Based on data <https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/eia860m/> that developers and power plant owners have reported to EIA, one utility-scale solar thermal plant is planned to come online in the next five years in the United States: Arizona’s 200-MW La Paz Solar Tower <https://www.curriebrown.com/en/projects/la-paz-solar-tower/>. According to trade press and announced projects, several CSP projects are planned or are in development in other countries.
> Principal contributor: Singfoong “Cindy” Cheah
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