SANTA MONICA, Calif., March 12, 2012 \/PR Newswire\/ — \u00a0United States Senator\u00a0Harry Reidreleased a new report today that puts a bright spotlight on the importance and benefits of federal and state policies to support the development ofrenewable energy<\/a>\u00a0sources.<\/p>\n ‘We are proud to be a leading example in Senator Reid’s Nevada\u00a0Clean Energy\u00a0Report that demonstrates how public-private partnerships create jobs and economic growth for the local community and state,’ said\u00a0Kevin Smith, CEO of SolarReserve. ‘Clearly, SolarReserve’s Crescent Dunes\u00a0Solar Energy Project that is currently under construction near\u00a0Tonopah, Nevada, could not have gone forward without supportive public policies and the leadership of Senator Reid and other members of congress and the administration.’<\/p>\n As the report states, the 110 megawatt Crescent Dunes\u00a0solar thermal\u00a0energy project near\u00a0Tonopah\u00a0will be capable of generating electricity to power more than 43,000 homes (75,000 homes during peak project operations).\u00a0One hundred percent of the electricity generated by the project will be sold to NV Energy under a 25-year contract, providing\u00a0Nevada’s largest utility with clean, reliable energy at stable prices that will be unaffected by volatility in oil, natural gas or coal prices. In addition, SolarReserve’s innovative U.S.-developed\u00a0energy storage\u00a0technology can store the sun’s energy for an entire day to generate electricity when needed, without interruption after the sun goes down or during cloudy periods \u2013 even 24 hours a day. Nevada-based companies have made up 80 percent of the on-site contractors thus far, including union and non-union firms. When accounting for offsite services and supply, more than 4,300 direct, indirect and induced jobs will be created at companies throughout the U.S. that provide engineering, equipment supply and manufacturing, transportation and other value-added services. To date, orders for the project have been placed for equipment and services in more than 20 states across the U.S.<\/p>\n As Senator Reid’s report points out, SolarReserve’s project has helped\u00a0Nevada\u00a0rank third nationally for utility-scale solar projects under development. The Crescent Dunes\u00a0Solar Energy\u00a0Project is now the world’s most advanced\u00a0solar thermal\u00a0energy technology. In addition to the ability to store the sun’s energy for use during peak electricity demand periods, the project will generate almost two times the electricity in kilowatt-hours than that generated by a similarly sized photovoltaic (PV) or competing direct-to-steam\u00a0solar thermalenergy technologies.<\/p>\n With an investment of nearly\u00a0$1 billion, this project could not have been built without federal policy programs to support\u00a0renewable energy\u00a0advancement and implementation. The project completed full financing in September of 2011, utilizing the Department of Energy’s Loan Guarantee program along with more than\u00a0$250 million\u00a0in private equity investment from SolarReserve, ACS Cobra, a worldwide leader in the engineering and construction of\u00a0power plants\u00a0and thermal solar facilities, and Santander, a global financial services and banking leader.\u00a0Nevada’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, requiring that the state generate 25 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2025, has been critical in attracting companies like SolarReserve to the state.<\/p>\n Once operational, the project will expend more than\u00a0$10 million\u00a0per year in salaries and operating costs, and is forecasted to generate\u00a0$47 million\u00a0in tax revenues through the first 10 years of operation – contributing to workers’ paychecks, service businesses, local school systems and police and fire departments.<\/p>\n ‘We recognize that not everyone in\u00a0Washington\u00a0supports the advancement of\u00a0clean energy,’ said Smith. ‘Given the limitations of fossil fuel generated electricity \u2013 both with respect to supply and impact on the environment \u2013 it is vital that policies to support\u00a0renewable energy continue. These policies are important for building additional projects, continued job growth, reducing pollution, competing in the global marketplace and realizing energy security for\u00a0the United States.’<\/p>\n About SolarReserve<\/strong><\/p>\n SolarReserve, LLC \u2013 headquartered in\u00a0Santa Monica, Calif.\u00a0\u2013 is a\u00a0solar energy project development company developing large-scale\u00a0solar energy\u00a0projects worldwide. It holds the exclusive worldwide license to the molten salt,\u00a0solar power\u00a0tower technology developed by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a subsidiary of\u00a0Connecticut-based United Technologies Corporation.\u00a0Since its formation in late 2007, SolarReserve’s team of power project professionals have assembled a concentrated\u00a0solar power\u00a0development portfolio of more than 25 projects featuring its licensed\u00a0solar power\u00a0technology with potential output of more than 3,000 megawatts in\u00a0the United States\u00a0and\u00a0Europe; with early stage activities in other international markets including the\u00a0Middle East, North and\u00a0South Africa,\u00a0Australia,\u00a0China,India\u00a0and\u00a0Latin America. SolarReserve is also developing 1,100 MW of photovoltaic projects across the\u00a0Western United States, and is actively acquiring new sites to add to the pipeline in the U.S. and overseas. SolarReserve’s experienced management team has previously developed and financed more than\u00a0$15 billion\u00a0in renewable and conventional energy projects in more than a dozen countries around the world.<\/p>\n SolarReserve’s molten salt, concentrating\u00a0solar power\u00a0tower technology was successfully demonstrated in\u00a0California\u00a0under a U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored pilot project in the late 1990s. The 10 MW pilot facility utilized a molten salt receiver designed, engineered and assembled by Rocketdyne, now a part of United Technologies Corporation.<\/p>\n For more information on SolarReserve, please visit\u00a0www.SolarReserve.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Clean Energy report released by Senator Reid outlines Nevada’s winning strategy and highlights SolarReserve’s Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project SANTA MONICA, Calif., March 12, 2012 \/PR Newswire\/ — \u00a0United States Senator\u00a0Harry Reidreleased a new report today that puts a bright spotlight on the importance and benefits of federal and state policies to support the development … Continue reading Renewable Energy Investments Result in Nevada Jobs and Expansion of Nevada Businesses<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4799"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4799"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4801,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4799\/revisions\/4801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nCritical to the need to diversify\u00a0Nevada’s economy, the project will directly employ more than 600 workers on site during peak construction activities, nearly all being\u00a0Nevada\u00a0residents. Construction of the facility began in September of 2011, with the\u00a0solar power\u00a0tower portion of the project completed in December 2011.\u00a0To date, there have been more than 100 workers on site so far with local Nevadans comprising 81 percent of the construction workforce.\u00a0Commercial operation is scheduled for the end of 2013.<\/p>\n