Dec 20 2010
SolarReserve, Santa Monica-headquartered company, which possesses exclusive license to utilize molten salt technology for solar power production, declared that it has obtained two Certificates of Environmental Compatibility (CEC) for its Crossroads Solar Energy Project from the Sitting Committee of Arizona Power Plant and Transmission Line.
The Power Plant and Transmission Line Sitting Committee passed a unanimous verdict (11-0) during the project approval process. The company expects to receive the final certificate of environmental compatibility for the project during the early part of 2011 from the ACC commissioner.
The Crossroads Solar Energy Project, which is designed to produce around 150 MW power and its connected transmission line will be located over a privately possessed land that is currently used for cultivation and situated west of the Town of Gila Bend, in Maricopa County, Arizona. The solar power plant will incorporate molten salt power tower expertise, formulated by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a section of United Technologies Corporation, and store the generated heat energy up to 10 hours even after the sun set to produce the required power. The new technology will conveniently substitute the traditional power production know-how that utilizes coal, oil or natural gas for burning and generating electricity. On completion, the Crossroads Solar Energy project will generate and supply around 450,000 MWH of clean energy every year, which is sufficient enough to power around 100,000 houses.
The project is expected to generate more than 450 construction job opportunities for Arizona during the two year construction period and an additional 5,000 direct and indirect jobs, which includes job related supply and supporting actions. It will provide full time employment opportunities to 45 personnel for a period of 30 years. The project is calculated to generate over $100 million as revenue in the first 10 years of its functioning.