Image Credit: Nevada State Office of Energy
The Stillwater geothermal plant located in Fallon, Nevada is now a hybrid geothermal-solar power plant after the installation of solar panels at the facility. The renewable power plant now generates a combined 59 MW of clean energy from geothermal and solar technologies, enough to power 50,000 average-sized American homes. It is the currently the only geothermal-solar plant in the world.
Since opening in 2009, Stillwater has been generating 33 MW of baseload geothermal power alone. Enel Green Power North America installed the 89,000 polycrystalline photovoltaic panels on the facility’s 240 acres, adding 26 MW of clean energy into the mix and bringing the total output to 59 MW. The combination of the two renewable technologies allows the plant to deliver peak power derived from solar when possible and geothermal power when the sun isn’t shining, delivering clean energy to its customers in Nevada.
The Stillwater plant received $40 million in tax support under the Recovery Act, one of 14 geothermal plants receiving money from the U.S. Department of Energy as part of President Obama’s “all of the above” energy policy. The department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy was an early investor in the project and continues to study Stillwater and other geothermal sites across Nevada and Utah in order to judge the viability of the technologies implemented at the plants. In a statement, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said that the “Fallon facility is expanding domestic renewable energy sources and helping to build the infrastructure we need to stay competitive in the global race for clean energy technologies.”
[via EcoGeek]