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Sierra SunTower
Sierra SunTower was a 5 MW commercial concentrating solar power (CSP) plant built and operated by eSolar. The plant is located in Lancaster, California. As of mid-September, 2022, the two towers that were the center of the facility are no longer standing. However the rest of the plant is still present.
Sierra SunTower was designed to validate eSolar's technology at full scale, effectively eliminating scaleup risks, and to serve as a model from which future plants of this type would be built.
The Sierra SunTower facility was based on power tower CSP technology. The plant had an array of heliostats which reflected solar radiation to a tower-mounted thermal receiver. The concentrated solar energy boiled water in the receiver to produce steam. The steam was piped to a turbine generator which converted the energy to electricity. The steam coming out of the turbine was condensed and pressurized back into the receiver.
In the summer of 2009, eSolar unveiled the 5 MW Sierra SunTower plant, a commercial power facility in Lancaster, California, to demonstrate the efficacy of this CSP technology. The Sierra SunTower was connected to the Southern California Edison (SCE) grid and, in spring 2010, it was the only commercial CSP tower facility in North America.
At the plant's official unveiling, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger praised the eSolar solution, "...proving that California's energy and environmental leadership are advancing carbon-free, cost-effective energy that can be used around the world."
However, the plant was only able to operate on days when the sun was fully unobstructed. As of 2015, California had two operational solar power tower projects online: the 392-megawatt Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in San Bernardino County near the Mojave National Preserve, and eSolar's Sierra SunTower. At the end of 2014, the two combined only generated 397 megawatts for the year.
In 2015, the Sierra SunTower was shut down for commercial operation, as it was deemed to be too costly to operate except on the sunniest of days.
The project site occupied approximately 8 hectares (20 acres) in an arid valley in the southwestern corner of the Mojave Desert at 35° north latitude, on private farm land.
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Sierra SunTower
Sierra SunTower was a 5 MW commercial concentrating solar power (CSP) plant built and operated by eSolar. The plant is located in Lancaster, California. As of mid-September, 2022, the two towers that were the center of the facility are no longer standing. However the rest of the plant is still present.
Sierra SunTower was designed to validate eSolar's technology at full scale, effectively eliminating scaleup risks, and to serve as a model from which future plants of this type would be built.
The Sierra SunTower facility was based on power tower CSP technology. The plant had an array of heliostats which reflected solar radiation to a tower-mounted thermal receiver. The concentrated solar energy boiled water in the receiver to produce steam. The steam was piped to a turbine generator which converted the energy to electricity. The steam coming out of the turbine was condensed and pressurized back into the receiver.
In the summer of 2009, eSolar unveiled the 5 MW Sierra SunTower plant, a commercial power facility in Lancaster, California, to demonstrate the efficacy of this CSP technology. The Sierra SunTower was connected to the Southern California Edison (SCE) grid and, in spring 2010, it was the only commercial CSP tower facility in North America.
At the plant's official unveiling, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger praised the eSolar solution, "...proving that California's energy and environmental leadership are advancing carbon-free, cost-effective energy that can be used around the world."
However, the plant was only able to operate on days when the sun was fully unobstructed. As of 2015, California had two operational solar power tower projects online: the 392-megawatt Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in San Bernardino County near the Mojave National Preserve, and eSolar's Sierra SunTower. At the end of 2014, the two combined only generated 397 megawatts for the year.
In 2015, the Sierra SunTower was shut down for commercial operation, as it was deemed to be too costly to operate except on the sunniest of days.
The project site occupied approximately 8 hectares (20 acres) in an arid valley in the southwestern corner of the Mojave Desert at 35° north latitude, on private farm land.
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