Publications

Solar Two technology for Mexico

Kolb, Gregory J.; Strachan, John W.; Strachan, John W.

Solar power towers, based on molten salt technology, have been the subject of extensive research and development since the late 1970s. In the mid 1980s, small experimental plants were successfully fielded in the USA and France that demonstrated the feasibility of the concept at a 1 to 2 MW{sub e} scale. Systems analyses indicate this technology will be cost competitive with coal-fired power plants after scaling-up plant size to the 100 to 200 MW{sub e} range. To help bridge the scale-up gap, a 10 MW{sub e} demonstration project known as Solar Two, was successfully operated in California, USA from 1996 to 1999. The next logical step could be to scale-up further and develop a 30 MW{sub e} project within the country of Mexico. The plant could be built by an IPP industrial consortium consisting of USA's Boeing and Bechtel Corporations, combined with Mexican industrial and financial partners. Plausible technical and financial characteristics of such a ``Solar-Two-type'' Mexican project are discussed in this paper.