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eSolar Unveils 5 MW Solar Tower Plant in California

eSolar, a provider of modular, scalable solar thermal power technology, recently unveiled its 24,000 mirror, 5-megawatt (MW) Sierra SunTower solar power plant. The full-scale power plant produces electricity for Southern California Edison (SCE) and can power more than 4,000 homes in California's Antelope Valley.

According to the company, eSolar technology resolves many of the problems that have held back large scale solar in the past including cost, speed of deployment and proximity to existing transmission lines. eSolar uses advanced software algorithms to precisely focus thousands of mirrors on a single point to efficiently harvest the sun's energy and achieve economies of scale with a smaller footprint than anyone else in the business.

eSolar's says its Sierra SunTower power plant marks the first of several developments in the Antelope Valley region using eSolar technology. Over the course of construction, which took less than one year, the project created 300 jobs.

eSolar develops its California projects on parcels of previously disturbed private lands, avoiding many of the permitting and environmental pitfalls of development on pristine desert lands. Located in northern Lancaster, Sierra SunTower is built on private land designated for heavy industrial use.

Sierra SunTower was reportedly fully financed and developed by eSolar. In February, eSolar announced an agreement with NRG Energy, Inc. to develop three plants in California and New Mexico that will generate up to 465 megawatts of electricity using eSolar technology. Additionally, in March, eSolar licensed its technology to India- based ACME Group for approximately 1 gigawatt of eSolar solar thermal capacity.