Acciona Energía celebrates 15-year anniversary of the Nevada Solar One Concentrated Solar Power Plant

Local Growth Contribution, ACCIONA Energía’s Nevada Solar One Concentrated Solar Power Plant provides 24 full-time local jobs.

ACCIONA Energía, world leader in renewable energy, celebrates 15 years of operations for its Nevada Solar One Concentrated Solar Plant (CSP) located in Boulder City, Nevada.  The plant generates up to 64 MW per hour, enough to power 12,500 Nevada households on an annual basis, and it removes an estimated 92,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually.   

ACCIONA Energía’s Nevada Solar One CSP uses proprietary technology to track the sun’s location and concentrate its rays during peak demand hours. The plant employs 800 parabolic concentrators with more than 192,000 mirrors that concentrate the sun’s rays onto 19,200 receiver tubes. Fluid that heats up to 735°F flows through these tubes and is used to produce steam that drives a conventional turbine, which is connected to a generator that produces electricity. 

“We recognized the potential for CSP generation in the Southwestern U.S. and built Nevada Solar One to demonstrate that this technology could perform on a commercial scale. The building of CSP plants in the U.S. could help contribute to a lower carbon-emitting electricity grid.  We are proud to have been providing safe, sustainable and cost-efficient energy since 2007.” said Joaquin Castillo, CEO of ACCIONA Energía North America.   

The Nevada Solar One CSP has a long history of supporting education.  The facility provides annual tours to high school students via Fort Valley State University’s Mathematics, Science and Engineering Academy (“M-SEA”).  The M-SEA has one of the best track-records in the nation for recruiting minorities and women in the science and technology disciplines. 

“Fort Valley State University is proud of its partnership with ACCIONA Energía” said Dr. Isaac J. Crumbly, Associate Vice President for Careers and Collaborative Programs and Founder and Director, Cooperative Developmental Energy Program.  “The pre-collegiate Mathematics, Science, and Engineering Academy is an early intervention program that targets minority and female students and introduces them to the fields of energy, mathematics, engineering, geoscience, and computer science.  It is through these types of partnerships where we hope to address the underrepresentation of minorities and females in the energy industry and other STEM careers.”

Acciona Energía and Fort Valley State University have been partners in this program since 2010 and in 2020 the university awarded the Nevada Solar One CSP with the Renewable Energy Leadership Award. 

In addition to the 64 MW Nevada Solar One CSP, ACCIONA Energía owns and operates 10 wind farms in the United States, totaling more than 1GW of wind capacity. The company also has a portfolio of four photovoltaic solar plants under development and construction that will increase the capacity of solar and wind production to more than 2GW upon completion.