SolFocus Partners with Johnson Controls to Deliver Renewable Energy to Coachella

April 28, 2011 -- The City of Coachella announced that a 420 kW concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) power plant at the City Coachella Water Reclamation Plant has been completed. The solar power installation was developed by Johnson Controls and Solar Power Partners (SPP) using 55 SolFocus SF-1100S tracking CPV systems, and will be unveiled by Coachella at 11 a.m. local time today. The installation will offset 40 percent of the reclamation plant's daytime energy consumption. The plant has been built on disturbed land which had limited potential use until the City envisioned employing this land for renewable power generation, which would help the City reduce operating costs and its carbon footprint. Using an innovative financing structure, the City leased the land to Solar Power Partners, Inc., who financed and owns the project, and will operate the plant, selling electricity to the Water Reclamation Plant under a long-term power purchase agreement. The project was originated by Johnson Controls who is also designing and constructing the facility under contract with SPP. The plant is connected to the regional electrical grid serviced by the Imperial Irrigation District (IID).

SolFocus CPV technology employs a system of patented reflective optics to concentrate sunlight 650 times onto small, highly efficient solar cells. The SolFocus SF-1100S system being deployed at the water reclamation plant features dual-axis tracking for consistent energy delivery. It also offers environmental benefits including no water usage for energy production, a small land footprint with dual use potential, and no permanent shadowing or wildlife corridor disruption. Additionally, SolFocus CPV provides the shortest energy payback and lowest greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of any solar technology. In solar-rich regions like Coachella, SolFocus CPV technology yields significantly more energy than other technologies with an extremely light environmental footprint.

Find out more:
http://www.solfocus.com/en/news-events/press-releases/2011-04-28.php

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• cpv
• solar
• coachella
• jci
• solfocus
• energy
• power
• water
• renewables
• pv
• photovoltaic