NTR’s Tessera To Rev Up 1.5MW Stirling Engine Plant

New Energy Finance : August 20 2009

Tessera Solar is partnering with Arizona utility Salt River Project to build Tessera’s first commercial plant, a 1.5MW project that will employ 60 Stirling Energy Systems (SES) concentrating devices.

Tessera will build the Maricopa Solar Plant on land leased from SRP, which will purchase the solar energy generated at the site next.  The project will be located adjacent to SRP’s Agua Fria Generating Station in Peoria, Arizona. Tessera and SES are both owned by Irish infrastructure investment firm, NTR.

The plant, which will break ground in September 2009, is set for completion by January 2010. It will be operated by Tessera Solar under a 10-year PPA, helping fulfill SRP’s sustainable portfolio goal set by its board of directors, which calls for the utility to meet 15% of its retail energy needs with sustainable energy by 2025.

In a press release, the company said that the plant will serve as a reference for Tessera’s 1.6GW of commercial projects in the company’s pipeline with options for an additional 150MW.

A spokesperson for Tessera said that the project would likely be completed in Q4 2009, but would not be connected until the new year. The spokeperson said that company’s other projects, Solar 1 in Calico and Solar 2 in Imperial Valley, were on schedule and expected begin construction in Q4 2010 and Q3 2010, respectively.