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1.5 MW Solar Dish Project to be Built in Arizona

Tessera Solar and Salt River Project (SRP) have unveiled plans to partner on a 1.5 MW solar project, Maricopa Solar LLC, in Peoria, Arizona, located in the West Valley of the greater Phoenix area. Maricopa Solar will be the first commercial-scale solar facility built using the Tessera's SunCatcher concentrating solar‐thermal technology, manufactured by Scottsdale, Arizona‐based Stirling Energy Systems (SES).

According to the company, the project will consist of 60 SunCatcher dishes and serve as a milestone for the nationwide deployment of the larger commercial projects previously announced in California and Texas totaling more than 1,600 MW.

The project will be located next to the Agua Fria Generating Station, a power plant owned and operated by SRP in Peoria. The solar plant, which is scheduled to break ground in September, is expected to employ 40 to 50 construction workers. Planned for completion in January 2010, the plant will be operated by Tessera Solar under a 10‐year agreement.

Tessera Solar says it will lease the land from SRP, which will purchase the solar energy generated at the site. The plant will help fulfill SRP's sustainable portfolio goal set by its publicly elected Board of Directors, which calls for the utility to meet 15 percent of its retail energy needs with sustainable energy by 2025.

The SunCatcher system uses precision mirrors attached to a parabolic dish to concentrate the sun's energy onto a high‐efficiency Stirling Engine. Each dish can generate up to 25,000 watts of power. One advantage of the technology, according to Tessera, is that the SunCatcher requires no water for heating or cooling and a minimal amount of water is required to wash the mirrors.

The company says more than 90 percent of the SunCatcher components will be manufactured in North America, creating thousands of new jobs.

"We're pleased to partner with SRP and the City of Peoria to deploy our SunCatcher technology here in our home state of Arizona in advance of our utility‐scale deployments in 2010," said Stirling Energy Systems CEO Steve Cowman. "We considered several sites across the Southwest, but our future growth plans and the plant's proximity to our headquarters will allow us the opportunity to showcase the SunCatcher to our stakeholders."