Tessera - Big Solar Company Embracing Distributed Generation?

Tessera Solar is planning to enter the market for smaller projects by licensing concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) technology from Boeing, which offers significant promise.  Given XCEL's proposal to amend its resource plan, scaling back solar purchases in the San Luis Valley to 30 Megawatts, a plan smaller than Tessera's current 145 Megawatt proposal would seem more viable at this time.

Current proposals by Tessera use the Suncatcher (TM) technology, which has met criticism due to many moving parts requiring maintenance and producing noise.  Most of these projects face cancellation or delay due to finance or environmental issues.  San Luis Valley citizens plan to turn out for a public hearing in Saguache, Colorado on Monday, December 6 to express their opinions about the project.

TESSERA SOLAR - 1,625 acre Stirling Engine Project 

PUBLIC HEARING

DEC. 6, 2010 - Monday
2-4 PM: Tessera and Nancy Lauro presentation/Q&A
4-7 PM: PUBLIC HEARING
7 PM: COMMISSIONER MEETING

501 4th Street - Saguache County Courthouse (at Cristy) 
Saguache, Colorado


In Arizona, a 250-Megawatt Tessera proposal couldn't find buyer for its electricity, as utilities have focused on distributed projects. Said Peter Wilt, Tessera’s senior director of development. "Quite frankly we’re not getting a lot of traction in the market. The market is starting to coalesce around the smaller projects.”

http://www.bizjournals.com/mobile/phoenix/morning_call/2010/09/plug_pulled_on_solar_plant.html

In order to enter this new market, Tessera's sister company, Stirling Energy Systems, has announced a partnership with Boeing to market a highly efficient CPV technology. These solar trackers have very low water use and do not produce significant noise.

http://www.solardaily.com/reports/Boeing_Licenses_XR700_Solar_Power_Technology_To_Stirling_Energy_Systems_999.html

This technology might be useful for smaller or mid scale projects such as Solar Gardens, and wholesale distributed plants similar to the SunEdison facility. Community Ownership and finance would be possible, using organizations such as non-profits and co-ops. Such projects would be much less likely to meet opposition, more likely to obtain power purchase agreements, and would go a long way towards solving the solar conflict in the San Luis Valley.

Tessera's projects could conceivably become part of a comprehensive distributed energy plan such as the Virtual Power Plant composed of 150 Megawatts of combined energy projects we proposed to the Saguache county commissioners on November 12.