Arizona Public Service Co. (Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.) reports that the Solana Generating Station in Arizona has begun production of electricity on a test basis.
The Solana Generating Station is based on a parabolic trough design.
The 280 MW concentrating solar power (CSP) plant in the U.S. state of Arizona will be by far the largest operational single-unit CSP plant in the world when complete. It will also be one of the first large-scale CSP plants to come online in the United States in decades.
Abengoa SA (Seville, Spain) began construction of Solana in December 2010. The plant is based on a parabolic trough design and incorporates six hours of thermal energy storage, which allows it to supply electricity on demand, during cloudy periods and after the sun has set.
The U.S. Department of Energy provided a USD 1.45 billion loan guarantee for the project.