megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after Jame ...
concentrator photovoltaics
Concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) (also known as concentration photovoltaics) is a photovoltaic technology that generates electricity from sunlight. Unlike conventional photovoltaic systems, it uses lenses or curved mirrors to focus sunlight onto ...
power station near the city of
Yerington
Yerington is a city in Lyon County, Nevada, United States. The population was 3,048 at the 2010 census. It is the current county seat of Lyon County, with the first county seat having been established at Dayton on November 29, 1861. It is nam ...
in
Lyon County, Nevada
Lyon County is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 59,235. Lyon County comprises the Fernley, NV Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of the Reno-Carson City-Fernley, NV Combined Statistica ...
. It is the largest assembly of
SunPower
SunPower is an American provider of photovoltaic solar energy generation systems and battery energy storage products, primarily for residential customers. The company, headquartered in San Jose, California, was founded in 1985 by Richard Sw ...
C7 tracker low concentration PV (LCPV) technology in the United States. The facility was constructed for
Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...
NV Energy
NV Energy is a public utility which generates, transmits and distributes electric service in northern and southern Nevada, including the Las Vegas Valley, and provides natural gas service in the Reno–Sparks metropolitan area of northern Nevada ...
direct sunlight
Direct may refer to:
Mathematics
* Directed set, in order theory
* Direct limit of (pre), sheaves
* Direct sum of modules, a construction in abstract algebra which combines several vector spaces
Computing
* Direct access (disambiguation), a ...
in order to concentrate it by a factor of seven onto high-efficiency (22.8% at 7x concentration)
mono-crystalline silicon
In materials science, a single crystal (or single-crystal solid or monocrystalline solid) is a material in which the crystal lattice of the entire sample is continuous and unbroken to the edges of the sample, with no grain boundaries.RIWD. "R ...
solar cell
A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physical and chemical phenomenon.
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ances ...
initiated the project with Sunpower and NV Energy to supply its growing data center business in the state with
100% renewable energy
100% renewable energy means getting all energy from renewable resources. The endeavor to use 100% renewable energy for electricity, heating, cooling and transport is motivated by climate change, pollution and other environmental issues ...
. The resulting arrangement is unusual in that Apple owns the facility, leases it to NV Energy to operate and maintain under a 20-year contract, then repurchases the power through th NV GreenEnergy Rider opportunity
Electricity production
LCPV technology commercialization
SunPower's proprietary high-efficiency solar cell technology, marketed under the "Maxeon" trademark, was originally developed to meet the more rigorous demands of LCPV, despite ultimately having a much greater success in the flat-panel PV market in the U.S. Among the features, copper is deposited on the back of the cells to lower electrical and thermal resistances; thus mitigating the risks from concentrator "hotspots" and improving reliability. In late 2011, SunPower announced that its C7 concentrator system technology could reduce the
levelized cost of electricity
The levelized cost of electricity (LCOE), or levelized cost of energy, is a measure of the average net present cost of electricity generation for a generator over its lifetime. It is used for investment planning and to compare different methods ...
relative to competing 'utility-scale' PV installations available at the time by 20%.
In a strategic effort to achieve
cost reduction
Cost reduction is the process used by companies to reduce their costs and increase their profits. Depending on a company’s services or products, the strategies can vary. Every decision in the product development process affects cost: desig ...
s at manufacturing scale - reductions similar to those rapidly being realized by
commoditized
In business literature, commoditization is defined as the process by which goods that have economic value and are distinguishable in terms of attributes (uniqueness or brand) end up becoming simple commodities in the eyes of the market or consum ...
PV using less efficient technology - SunPower entered a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...
(JV) with the Chinese firm Tianjin Zhonghuan Semiconductor (TZS) to
ramp-up Ramp-up is a term used in economics and business to describe an increase in a firm's production ahead of anticipated increases in product demand. Alternatively, ramp-up describes the period from completed initial product development to maximum capa ...
LCPV production in late 2012. In early 2014, SunPower announced the supply of 70 MW of "concentrator cell assemblies" to the JV's first 50 MW
production line
A production line is a set of sequential operations established in a factory where components are assembled to make a finished article or where materials are put through a refining process to produce an end-product that is suitable for onward c ...
in
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for ...
for the first of two projects totaling 120 MW to be completed by the end of 2015.
During the early 2015 completion of its Fort Churchill facility in the U.S., Apple announced its funding of another 40 MW of the JV's LCPV projects in China to support of its growing operations there with renewable energy. The JV was reported to have ramped to three 50 MW production lines at that time. Apple, SunPower, and Zhonghuan Energy (TZS's project development entity) indicated later in 2015 their intention to construct and jointly own an additional 170 MW of LCPV projects in northern China.
In August 2020, SunPower completed a split of its proprietary cell manufacturing and sales business into a separate company Maxeon Solar Technologies (NASDAQ:MAXN). TZS invested $298 million in the new entity and maintains close ties. Maxeon continues to manufacture and sell solar panel technology under the SunPower brand outside of the US and Canada.
See also
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Boulder Solar
The Boulder Solar project is a 150 megawatt (MW AC) photovoltaic power station near Boulder City, Nevada. It was built in two phases by SunPower using its Oasis Power Plant system. The project is co-located with several other large solar po ...
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Solar power in Nevada
Solar power in Nevada is growing due to a Renewable Portfolio Standard which requires 50% renewable energy by 2030. The state has abundant open land areas and some of the best solar potential in the country.
Solar power plants
The number and ...
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Solar power in the United States
Solar power includes solar farms as well as local distributed generation, mostly on rooftops and increasingly from community solar arrays. In 2021, utility-scale solar power generated 115 terawatt-hours (TWh), or 2.8% of electricity in t ...