CSP World

Enel Green Power North America has announced the works have started at the Stillwater geothermal plant, in Nevada, US, to add a CSP facility to operate alongside the geothermal plant.

The Stillwater geothermal power station, which is already paired with a 26 MW photovoltaic facility, will be the first geothermal plant to be coupled with a Concentrated Solar Power facility, turning it into a hybrid plant able to combine the continuous generating capacity of binary-cycle, medium-enthalpy geothermal power with solar thermodynamic.

The CSP plant will add 17 MW to the already installed capacity of 33 MW. The company will use parabolic trough technology with demineralised water under pressure, as the working fluid.

It's expected that the CSP part will generate about 3 GWh per year. The energy produced will be sold to NV Energy, through the existing 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).

Enel underscores that "thanks to the innovative technology that will enable the use of the sun’s heat to raise the temperature of the geothermal fluid extracted from the wells, it will be possible to improve the cycle’s yield and increase its electricity output".

Combining several renewable sources at the same location is one of the guidelines along which the Enel Green Power innovation strategy is being developed. Combining several renewable power generation technologies also increases zero-emission output as well as making it possible to rely on the same infrastructures, such as electrical interconnection lines, thereby further reducing environmental impact.

Enel Green Power’s efforts in the renewable sector are focused on the performance of existing technologies (hydro, wind and geothermal), improving their availability as well as mitigating the effects associated with intermittency. The company is also working on renewable sources not utilized so far, to secure higher levels of energy supply, also in remote areas.