California to Build Two Large-Scale Solar Plants

US-based solar power company Stirling Energy Systems (SES) has received a US$100m investment from Irish renewable energy company NTR to build two of the world's largest solar generating projects.

The investment will fund pre-construction costs for the projects in the Imperial Valley and Mojave Desert and will "bring clean, renewable power to Southern California", says SES.

The plants will use commercially untested concentrating solar power technology, which combines a mirrored concentrator dish with an engine specially designed to convert reflected sunlight into electricity.

SES has signed agreements to sell the electricity to Californian utilities San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison.

Combined, the two projects will initially produce 800MW of power and up to 1,750MW when the plants are fully constructed.

By Ozge Ibrahim