eSolar Will Build a Solar Energy Tower Of 245 Megawatts

Southern California Edison (SCE) has signed a contract to procure 245 MW of additional solar energy to its customers with Pasadena. eSolar based in California was chosen for this first effort of national commercial energy technology that uses solar thermal tower.

The project will be built in the Lancaster area of California, is expected to provide energy in 2011 with a total of 105 MW of renewable solar energy in 2012, increasing to 245 MW in 2013. SCE buyer is currently the principal solar energy, buying more than 90% of products from USA.

“Solar is a great source of energy for California – and completely renewable,” said Stuart Hemphill, SCE vice president, Renewable and Alternative Energy.

“We rely on innovative companies such as eSolar for help in expanding our industry leading portfolio and to ensure access to the most promising technological solutions.

Each pre-fabricated module consists of several solar towers each associated with thousands of heliostats, or mirrors. The mirrors precisely attract the sun throughout the day and reflect light in a hallway at the top of the tower.

The concentrated light boils water in a central hallway, sending the steam to a traditional turbine to produce electricity.

Solar thermal technology is unique in eSolar, which uses smaller towers, mirrors mass produced smaller and more advanced tracking software, achieving economies of scale within a small footprint animal and easy connection to transmission lines.