The project, located at Xcel Energy’s Cameo Generating Station near Grand Junction, Colorado, is designed to increase the plant’s efficiency, decrease the use of coal, test the commercial viability of concentrating solar power thermal integration, and lower carbon dioxide emissions.
Abengoa Solar developed the parabolic-trough technology, which concentrates solar energy to provide heat for producing supplemental steam for electric power production.
Kent Larson, vice president and chief energy supply officer of Xcel Energy, said: “If this project produces the successful results we expect, this type of solar thermal integration will help move the use of solar energy one step closer to being a potential technology for improving the environmental performance of coal-fired power plants for Xcel Energy and for utilities around the country.”
