Parabolic Trough Organic Rankine Cycle Power Plant

Arizona Public Service (APS) is required to generate a portion of its electricity from solar resources in order to satisfy its obligation under the Arizona Environmental Portfolio Standard (EPS). In recent years, APS has installed and operates over 4.5 MWe of fixed, tracking, and concentrating photovoltaic systems to help meet the solar portion of this obligation and to develop an understanding of which solar technologies provide the best cost and performance to meet utility needs. During FY04, APS began construction of a 1-MWe parabolic trough concentrating solar power plant. This plant represents the first parabolic trough plant to begin construction since 1991. The plant will also be the first commercial deployment of the Solargenix parabolic trough collector technology developed under contract to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The plant will use an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) power plant, provided by Ormat. The ORC power plant is much simpler than a conventional steam Rankine cycle power plant and allows unattended operation of the facility