Wind Energy

Chevron commissions concentrating solar power photovoltaic plant in New Mexico

Chevron Mining Inc. (CMI, Englewood, Colorado, U.S.) and sister company Chevron Technology Ventures LLC (CTV, Houston, Texas, U.S.) announced the commissioning of a 1MW concentrated solar energy photovoltaic (CPV) plant in the U.S. state of New Mexico.

The concentrated solar energy photovoltaic  will be located on the tailing site of CMI’s molybdenum mine in Questa, New Mexico.

“Chevron is one of the first companies in the U.S. to demonstrate CPV on this scale," said CTV President Des King. "We’re fortunate that we have property in a part of the world with a solar resource that is expected to be most conducive to this type of technology."

Plant to use Soitec CPV modules

The Questa solar field will cover approximately 80,000 square meters and will include Soitec concentrating solar photovoltaic (CPV) systems mounted on 173 solar trackers.

The companies will sell the electricity generated to Kit Carson Electric Cooperative (Taos, New Mexico, U.S.) through a power purchase agreement.

CMI and CTV state that the project was constructed with an excellent safety record and no recorded injuries.

CMI and CTV are subsidiaries of Chevron Corporation (San Ramon, California, U.S.), and Chevron U.S.A. (San Ramon, California, U.S.) respectively.

www.soitec.com/