Solar Project Cancelled

Solar Project Cancelled

Five and a half years ago in 2005, Southern California Edison signed a contract which would have led to one of the largest amounts of power ever produced by a single solar thermal power plant in a single contract. The facility, called Calico, should have had the capacity to generate as much as 850 megawatts of power, although the contract had only stipulated 665.5 megawatts.

Weeks after giving the green light to the Calico power plant itself, SCE made and abrupt change and cancelled the agreement, and has not disclosed the reasons for the change.

The company behind the project is Tessera Solar. Although looking for other customers, Tessera is still trying to obtain nearly $4.6 Billion in funding needed to make the Calico plant, as well as another 709 megawatt plant, a reality.

The plans call for the use of vast arrays of large solar dishes spread out over thousands of acres to focus the suns rays. The focused energy would be aimed at a central tank of hydrogen gas which, when heated, will undergo thermal expansion and thereby drive a piston for a generator. The two facilities would be the first large scale implementation of the technology. So far tests were limited in scale, but have been successful.