On Monday, the Department of the Interior gave final approval to Solar Millennium LLC's Amargosa Farm Road project.

This is not Solar Millennium's first project to clear this hurdle.  Blythe received its final record of decision from the BLM back on 10/25.

For the full list of their CSP projects in the U.S. and a map of their locations, click here to view the Greentech Media U.S. CSP Project Tracker & Map.

Two significant hurdles remain before this project can move forward. 

1) They need to sign a PPA with NV Energy (currently they only have an MOU)

2) They need financing

In order to secure equity financing, they will likely need a loan guarantee from the federal government. Thus far, two CSP plants have been able to secure conditional commitments for loan guarantees from the DOE: Abengoa's Solana and BrightSource's Ivanpah.

With a signed PPA, all the necessary permits, and a loan guarantee, BrightSource was able to secure $300M in equity financing from NRG.

Will Solar Millennium be able to raise equity without the loan guarantee?

Current indicators point to 'no.'

In any case, this is a another big win for Solar Millennium and its supply chain parters: Schott (receiver tubes), Flabeg (mirrors), Kiewit (the PC in EPC), Flagsol (the E in EPC).

For a graphical representation of the CSP Ecosystem covering the full value chain, click here.

More detailed specs on the Amargosa project follow below.
 

    Project Name

    Amargosa Farm Road 

    Developer

    STA (Solar Millennium & Ferrostaal)

    Status

    Development, no PPA/FIT

    Technology (cooling, storage)

    Parabolic Trough (dry, storage)

    Gross Capacity (MW)

    484

    County/Province

    Nye

    State / AC

    NV

    Total Capital Cost ($mm)

    $3,000

    Capital Cost ($/W)

    $6.20

    Capacity Factor

    36%

    LCOE

    $0.15

    Solar Resource (kWh/m^2/yr)

    2,781

    Electricity generation (GWh/yr)

    1,530

    Acres

    4,350

    Acres/MW

    9

    Cooling Method

    Dry

    Water (acre ft)

    300

    EPC

    Kiewit

    Electricity Purchaser

    NV Energy (not finalized)

    HCE/Receiver Manufacturer

    Schott

    Mirror Manufacturer

    Flabeg

    Construction job-years

    3,250

    O&M jobs

    180

    Storage (hrs)

    4.5

    Regulatory status

    Approved

    Break ground

    ?

    On line

    May-14

    On line Yr

    2014

    Land Type

    Public

    Fast-tracked

    Y

    Federal Loan Guarantee, Conditional Commitment

    No