Ex-United Technologies Rocket Scientists To Build 150 MW Solar Heliostat in Sonoran Desert  

Cleantechnica has a post on a solar thermal power plant to be built in California - Ex-United Technologies Rocket Scientists To Build 150 MW Solar Heliostat in Sonoran Desert

SolarReserve; a California start-up spin-out from United Technologies’ Rocketdyne has filed an application with the CPUC to build a 150-megawatt heliostat solar farm with seven hours of after-sunset energy stored in molten salt. These are the rocket scientists responsible for our solar-powered space exploration.

Theirs would be the first heliostat type of solar array to produce grid power in California. Abengoa has several in Spain, and plans one in Arizona. United Technologies has licensed the original technology to the new company SolarReserve and its wholly owned subsidiary Rice Solar Energy, LLC, (RSE).

The start-up has years of solid research behind it. The Rocketdyne scientists developed the solar salt technology they will use in the Rice Solar Energy Project, and they proved that it worked back in the 90’s in a 10 MW demo.