German Partnership Targets U.S. Southwest for Concentrating Solar

Two German companies have joined forces to enter the U.S. utility-scale solar market.

Solar thermal company Solar Millennium and plant construction firm MAN Ferrostaal announced a joint venture, called Solar Trust of America, LLC, to turnkey development, construction and financing of large-scale concentrated solar power (CSP) plants in the southwestern region of the United States.

Solar Millennium and MAN Ferrostaal are both contributing assets and technical expertise to Solar Trust of America and will be shareholders in the new company.

Solar Trust of America will employ Solar Millenniums Flagsol parabolic trough technology exclusively in North America.

Uwe T. Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Solar Trust of America, said “With thousands of fully-funded and completed industrial projects in the combined portfolios of our business partners, we expect to become the industry leader in the development and construction of these solar thermal power plants in the U.S.”

Solar Millennium, LLC, of Berkeley, California, will serve as the development arm for Solar Trust of America.

Solar Trust said it is ideally positioned to build on the success of Solar Millennium, LLC’s June 17, 2009 announcement of the execution of power purchase agreements with Southern California Edison (SCE). The agreements, which are subject to approval by the California Public Utilities Commission, call for the development of two, 242-megawatt (MW) power plants, with the option to expand to include a third 242-megawatt plant, for a total of up to 726 megawatts of capacity, and provide for the purchase of the output by SCE over a 20-year period. These solar thermal power plants are expected to begin operation between 2013 and 2014.

Solar Millennium AG is the company responsible for the development of the Andasol 1, 2 and 3 solar thermal power plants constructed in Spain. Two of these plants feature large-scale thermal storage technology capable of extending power production for up to 7.5 hours per day after the sun sets. MAN Ferrostaal AG is leading the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) for Andasol 3, which is currently under construction in Andalusia and scheduled to be connected to the local grid in 2011.

Uwe Schmidt emphasized that the development, engineering, local procurement and construction of the utility-size thermal solar power plants should provide an economic boost to the region. “Each of these plants will include investments of more than $1 billion. Each plant is expected to directly employ more than 800 skilled workers during the initial construction phase and create approximately 100 permanent jobs for operations, maintenance and management employees. And, each plant is expected to indirectly create thousands of additional jobs as Solar Trust of America procures materials, goods and services for each facility in the U.S.”