Fire registered at Solana CSP plant in Arizona

According to local media reports, “a fire was registered at around 7:15 PM on Wednesday 14th January” at Abengoa’s CSP plant in Gila Bend, Arizona. There were no injuries reported and the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Frederick Redell, General Manager of Abengoa Solar LLC, said in an interview with a local radio station, that “it didn’t do a lot of damage and nobody was hurt”. The same media outlet indicated the plant was back online on Thursday 15th.

"Our procedures worked very well, everybody did exactly what they were supposed to do," Redell said. "The assistance from local authorities was perfect and we hope not to have any more incidents like this."

Solana is owned by Abengoa Yield and it began operation in October 2013. It is a 280 MW trough plant, with six hours of thermal energy storage and it supplies energy to Arizona Public Service (APS), under a 30-year power purchase agreement.

CSP Today Global Tracker unveils Duba 1 ISCC project bidders

CSP Today has learnt that companies responsible for the Duba 1 ISCC project have selected the preferred bidders. According to a trusted source, the Saudi Electricity Company and General Electric have met with the companies involved and the final technical bids are expected in the first semester of 2015.

The Duba 1 ISCC project is a pioneering project in Saudi Arabia and will be built in the Tabuk region, in the North-Western part of the Kingdom. The project is designed to generate up to 550 MW from the combined cycle plant, whereas the solar field will supply steam for an additional 50 MW.

To see the full list of bidding companies for both the solar component and the entire project, visit this link: http://social.csptoday.com/tracker/project/duba-1-iscc

ACS to sell a 51 % stake of its YieldCo unit Saeta Yield

The Spanish engineering, procurement and construction company ACS Cobra will put on sale a 51 % stake of its YieldCo unit Saeta Yield SA, an investment vehicle which groups ACS’ renewable assets.

According to Spanish media reports’, Saeta Yield SA’s properties include “16 wind farms with a combined capacity of 539 MW and three CSP plants totalling 150 MW,” all of them located in Spain.

The company plans to offer Saeta Yield’s shares on the Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia Stock Exchanges as well as on the Automated Quotation System (Sistema de Interconexión Bursátil Español).

The operation is expected to take place in the first semester of 2015. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and Société Générale will coordinate the public offering, whereas Santander and HSBC, will act as “joint bookrunners”.