Project of the Week: Stillwater Solar Installation

The world’s first solar-geothermal power plant

Shayle Kann September 12, 2011

Shayle Kann

Senior Vice President, Greentech Media & Head of GTM Research
Greentech Media

Shayle Kann leads GTM Research, the market analysis, advisory and consulting division of Greentech Media. GTM Research analyzes and forecasts the dynamics impacting the transformation of the global electricity sector. An expert on next-generation energy, he has presented at conferences around the world, been featured in publications such as The Economist, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Forbes, Bloomberg, Reuters, and Financial Times, spoken at Harvard, Yale, MIT and Columbia, and testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Last month, at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced the groundbreaking of the world’s first solar-geothermal power plant in Churchill County, Nevada. Enel Green Power will develop the Stillwater solar facility, installing more than 81,000 PV modules to generate an additional 24 megawatts-ac of peak energy at the existing geothermal plant. Adding solar capacity at the current Stillwater facility will not only improve the plant’s electrical production, but will also allow use of the existing infrastructure and reduce the environmental impact of the project. The solar retrofit, which is supported by Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, will be an important test run for future projects combining renewable energy sources. Power from the project will be sold to NV Energy upon completion in 2012.