Technology Type and Level of Technology Maturity. Bottle Rock uses a well known and proven geothermal generation technology and has been in operation since 1985 and was repowered in 2007. This is a mature technology.
Technology Type and Level of Technology Maturity a. Discuss the type and stage of the Project’s proposed technology (e.g. concept state, testing stage, commercially operating, utility-scale operation, ample history of operation). The Project will use crystalline silicon PV panels, mounted on single-axis trackers. Crystalline silicon PV is a mature, proven, widely installed and regularly financed solar generation technology solution. The Project will use modules, inverters, and trackers that are all field-proven and deemed financeable by third-party financiers. Several utility scale projects using similar technology are in operation worldwide.
Technology Type and Level of Technology Maturity. The Project will utilize solar PV panels, a mature and proven crystalline photovoltaic technology and a single-axis tracking system to optimize system production. As stated above, the technology is commercially proven.
Technology Type and Level of Technology Maturity. The Project will use fixed-tilt thin-film photovoltaic panel technology, using panels manufactured by First Solar. First Solar panels are a widely used, commercialized, proven technology. The technology is proven, and similar technology has been utilized in currently operational utility scale solar PV projects worldwide, In addition, fixed-tilt photovoltaic arrays have no moving parts, thereby minimizing maintenance and downtime. This is the same technology that was recently used on the Sempra 10 MW El Dorado project and 48 MW Copper Mountain 1 project that successfully began commercial operation in February 1, 2011.
Technology Type and Level of Technology Maturity. Rice Solar will employ a CSP tower technology that utilizes molten salt as the working fluid and that incorporates thermal storage. This technology is licensed from United Technologies Corporation (“UTC”), and was successfully demonstrated in the “Solar Two” project, a Department of Energy (“DOE”)-sponsored 10 MW demonstration project near Barstow, California. Gemasolar, a 17 MW project in Spain, utilizes similar technology and came online in 2011. Rice Solar’s technology works by reflecting sunlight from thousands of tracking mirrors, called heliostats, and concentrating this reflected sunlight on a receiver situated at the top of a tower in the center of the heliostat field. A digital control system focuses the heliostats on the receiver as they track the sun across the sky, concentrating the sunlight hundreds of times more than its normal intensity. The receiver collects the concentrated sunlight and uses it to heat molten salt flowing through the receiver to over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. The heated molten salt flows into a thermal storage tank and then to a steam generator. The steam produced drives a standard turbine to generate electricity. The Project will be located in the Sonoran Desert, which is an ideal solar site in for concentrating solar technologies that require high Direct Normal Insolation (“DNI”). The historical solar resource for the area is well characterized.
Technology Type and Level of Technology Maturity. The Project uses a twin jet impulse hydraulic turbine, which is a widely commercialized, proven technology.
Technology Type and Level of Technology Maturity. The Project expects to use Siemens 2.3 MW -101 wind turbines. The technology is proven and similar technology has been utilized in currently operational utility scale wind projects worldwide.
Technology Type and Level of Technology Maturity a. Discuss the type and stage of the Project’s proposed technology (e.g. concept state, testing stage, commercially operating, utility-scale operation, ample history of operation). The major technology components used for the Project are a bubbling fluidized bed boiler for generating heat and a steam turbine for generating electricity. Both of these components have long histories of operation, hundreds of deployments worldwide, and are mature and well understood. The number of projects utilizing these components in conjunction to generate electricity from biomass is modest in comparison, however, but deployment is not limited by technical concerns or challenges. The Project will employ equipment and processes with proven functionality and reliability for the combustion of wet, high-ash biosolids and biomass, which are the fuels proposed for use in the Project.
Technology Type and Level of Technology Maturity a. Discuss the type and stage of the Project’s proposed technology (e.g. concept state, testing stage, commercially operating, utility-scale operation, ample history of operation). The Projects will utilize First Solar’s proprietary thin film modules. These modules are mature and have been deployed in over 3,000 MW worldwide.
Technology Type and Level of Technology Maturity a. Discuss the type and stage of the Project’s proposed technology (e.g. concept state, testing stage, commercially operating, utility-scale operation, ample history of operation).
