Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project CSP Project

This page provides information on Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project CSP project, a concentrating solar power (CSP) project, with data organized by background, participants, and power plant configuration.

Project Overview

Power Station: Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project
Location: Tonopah
Nevada United States
Owners (%): SolarReserve
Technology Power Tower
Solar Resource: 2734
Nominal Capacity: 110 MW
Status Operational
Start Year: 2015

Status Date

Status Date

Background

Break Ground Date 2011
Expected Generation (GWh/year) 500
Lat/Long Location 38.239,-117.363
Total Power Station Land Area (km²) 6.5

Participants

Developer SolarReserve, ACS Cobra
USA, Spain
EPC Cobra
Spain
Operator SolarReserve's Tonopah Solar Energy, LLC
Electricity Generation Offtaker NV Energy

Costs

Total Construction Cost (2015) $ 983.00 million
Total Cost USD (2020) $1032.24 million
Specific Cost/kW USD (2020) $ 9384
LCOE USD/kWh (2020) $ 0.18
Levelised cost of electricity with 5% weighted average cost of capital and a 25 year payback period, capacity dependent O&M (1.5% of investment cost per year), deflated from Year_operational using the Worldbank's GDP deflator; if station under development or construction then not deflated (assumed cost year 2020)
Remuneration USD/kWh 0.14
Remuneration Start Year 2015
Remuneration USD/kWh Deflated (2020) 0.14
PPA or Tariff Period (Years) 25
Support Scheme Type Tender/PPA
Concessional Funding or Other Support Federal Loan Guarantee $737 million, 30% investment tax credit

Plant Configuration

Solar Field

Solar Field Aperture Area (m²) 1197148
# of Heliostats (or dishes for dish systems) 10347
Heliostat Aperture Area (m²) (or dish aperature for dish systems) 116
Collector/Heliostat Engineering or IP Owner Solarrserve
USA
Collector/Heliostat Model Rocketdyne (Solarreserve)
Mirror Manufacturer Flabeg
Germany

Solar Field (Receiver)

Receiver Working Fluid Molten salt
Receiver Working Fluid Category Salt
Tower Height (m) 195
Receiver Manufacturer Rocketdyne (SolarReserve)
USA
Receiver Model External - cylindrical

Power Block

Nominal Turbine or Power Cycle Capacity 110 MW
Turbine Manufacturer Alstom
France
Power Cycle Steam Rankine
Power Cycle Pressure (Bar) 115
Cooling Type Hybrid

Thermal Energy Storage

Storage Type 2-tank direct
Storage Capacity (Hours) 10
Storage Description Thermal energy storage achieved by raising salt temperature from 550 to 1050 F. Thermal storage efficiency is 99%

The project data on these pages and in the downloadable CSV file is copyright (©) Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) and others 2022; data by Lilliestam@IASS, Thonig@IASS, Zang@CAS, Gilmanova@CAS and others. The data is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.”