SolarReserve

SolarReserve, LLC was a developer of utility-scale solar power projects, focusing on Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and Photovoltaic (PV) technology. The company was formed in early 2008 with seed capital from US Renewables Group and in partnership with United Technologies Corporation (UTC). The objective was to commercialize an advanced molten salt technology for large-scale solar thermal power, a system originally developed by Rocketdyne over two decades. The company's key figures included Kevin Smith, who served as CEO for a decade, and Tom Georgis, who took over as CEO in January 2019. Bill Gould served as the Chief Technology Officer.

The company's core business involved developing and managing large-scale solar projects, acting as both a technology provider and project developer. SolarReserve's business model was centered on securing long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with utility companies to provide a stable revenue stream. Its clients were primarily utility companies seeking to add renewable energy sources to their grids. The company operated in the utility-scale renewable energy market, with projects and a development pipeline across the United States, South Africa, Australia, and Chile.

SolarReserve's flagship technology was a CSP system that used thousands of tracking mirrors, called heliostats, to concentrate sunlight onto a central receiver tower. This process heated molten salt to over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit (566°C). The heated molten salt was then stored in large insulated tanks, which functioned as a thermal battery. When electricity was needed, the hot salt was used to create steam to power a traditional turbine generator, allowing for power generation day and night. This integrated molten salt energy storage was the company's main selling point, aiming to solve the intermittency problems of other renewables by providing dispatchable, on-demand electricity. The most prominent application of this technology was the 110 MW Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project near Tonopah, Nevada, which was backed by a $737 million U.S. government loan guarantee and began construction in 2011.

Despite initial successes, including winning a Platts Global Energy Award in 2016, SolarReserve faced significant challenges. The Crescent Dunes project suffered from technical problems, including a leak in a molten salt tank that led to an eight-month outage. These operational issues resulted in the plant failing to consistently produce its contracted amount of power. Consequently, its sole customer for the project, NV Energy, terminated its 25-year PPA in October 2019. The company also faced setbacks with other planned projects, such as the Aurora project in Australia, which was canceled after SolarReserve failed to secure financing. The declining cost of competing photovoltaic (PV) panels combined with battery storage also made SolarReserve's CSP technology less economically viable. These mounting problems led to the company ceasing operations around 2020, with its subsidiary, Tonopah Solar Energy, filing for bankruptcy in July 2020.

Keywords: SolarReserve, concentrated solar power, CSP, molten salt energy storage, solar thermal energy, utility-scale solar, Crescent Dunes project, Tonopah Solar Energy, renewable energy development, power purchase agreement, solar power tower, thermal energy storage, dispatchable solar, NV Energy, US Renewables Group, Kevin Smith, Tom Georgis, solar project finance, renewable energy failure, energy storage technology