The Rice Solar Energy Project was a 150 MW
concentrating solar power
Concentrated solar power (CSP, also known as concentrating solar power, concentrated solar thermal) systems generate solar power by using mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight into a receiver. Electricity is generated when ...
facility project proposed for
Rice Valley in the southern
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily i ...
, within
Riverside County
Riverside County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most populous county in California and the 10th-most populous in the Uni ...
in southern
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
.
[
] It was put on indefinite hold in 2014.
Description
Proposed by Rice Solar, a subsidiary of
SolarReserve, the thermal
power tower facility would have been located on of private land on the site of the former
Rice Army Airfield
Rice Army Air Field (also known as Rice Air Base or Rice AAF) is an abandoned World War II airfield in Rice Valley of the southern Mojave Desert, located east-southeast of the community of Rice, California, Rice. The airfield is located in Rive ...
, near the former settlement of
Rice
Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly '' Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and ''Porteresia'', both wild and domestica ...
.
The project's innovative molten salt storage system was to capture solar energy and deliver power to the grid even after the sun goes down. The facility was "expected to power 68,000 homes, create up to 450
construction
Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...
jobs, and generate more than $48 million in state and local tax revenue over the first 10 years of operation."
Details
The project was developed by Rice Solar Energy, LLC, a subsidiary of SolarReserve, LLC. The facility would have consisted of about 17,000
heliostat
A heliostat (from ''helios'', the Greek word for ''sun'', and ''stat'', as in stationary) is a device that includes a mirror, usually a plane mirror, which turns so as to keep reflecting sunlight toward a predetermined target, compensating f ...
s
focused onto a central receiver tower with an overall height of , and an integrated thermal storage system, which uses
molten salt
Molten salt is salt which is solid at standard temperature and pressure but enters the liquid phase due to elevated temperature. Regular table salt has a melting point of 801 °C (1474°F) and a heat of fusion of 520 J/g.Proc. Roy. Soc. Bibli ...
, a mixture of
sodium nitrate
Sodium nitrate is the chemical compound with the formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Chile saltpeter (large deposits of which were historically mined in Chile) to distinguish it from ordinary saltpeter, potassium nitrate. ...
and
potassium nitrate
Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Indian saltpetre (large deposits of which were historically mined in India). It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and ni ...
, as heat carrier.
[
] The power plant would have been located on of private land, with previously disturbed and natural habitat sections.
[
The project had undergone extensive environmental review and had proposed mitigations for environmental impacts from its construction and operation. SolarReserve was to fund the acquisition and enhancement of to compensate for impacts to ]desert tortoise
The desert tortoise (''Gopherus agassizii''), is a species of tortoise in the family Testudinidae. The species is native to the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, and to the Sinaloan thornscr ...
habitat on private and public land.[
In December 2011, Secretary of the Interior ]Ken Salazar
Kenneth Lee Salazar (born March 2, 1955) is an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat who is the United States ambassador to Mexico. He previously served as the 50th United States Secretary of the Interior in the administration of President ...
approved a transmission line, access road and substation on public lands that will connect the Rice project to the power grid in California.[
In January 2013, the ]California Public Utilities Commission
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC or PUC) is a regulatory agency that regulates privately owned public utilities in the state of California, including electric power, telecommunications, natural gas and water companies. In addi ...
(CPUC) approved SolarReserve's amended 25-year power purchase agreement
A power purchase agreement (PPA), or electricity power agreement, is a contract between two parties, one which generates electricity (the seller) and one which is looking to purchase electricity (the buyer). The PPA defines all of the commercial te ...
(PPA) with Pacific Gas and Electric
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered in the Pacific Gas & Electric Building, in San Francisco, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 milli ...
(PG&E).
Indefinite hold
As of October 2014, SolarReserve put the Rice Solar Project on "indefinite hold". The reason was the investment tax credit for renewable energy slated to drop from 30 percent to 10 percent at the end of 2016, and only available for projects that are fully online by then."
See also
*
References
External links
*
{{Solar power in the United States
Solar power stations in California
Solar power in the Mojave Desert
Energy in Riverside County, California
Proposed buildings and structures in California
Proposed solar power stations in the United States
Buildings and structures in Riverside County, California