Ausra, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based solar thermal power developer, announced plans Dec. 13 to build the world's first automated solar thermal equipment manufacturing plant in Las Vegas.

The 130,000-square-foot facility, near McCarran International Airport and the recently opened Town Square retail and office center, will be able to build and assemble enough reflectors, towers, absorber tubes and other solar thermal array components to generate up to 700 megawatts of new solar power a year.

The Ausra plant is located at 6405 S. Ensworth St., in the former kitchen-cabinet-plant building operated by Merillat Industries, which closed its Las Vegas operations in April.

When it opens in April, the facility will be the world's most efficient solar thermal manufacturing plant and the first in the United States, the company says.

Ausra claims its production will triple global manufacturing capacity for solar thermal equipment.

"The market is ready, the technology is ready," Ausra Executive Vice President John O'Donnell said. "We're trying to establish ourselves as the lowest cost, highest quality producer of solar energy in this market."

The plant will employ about 50 people, but is expected to have an economic effect upward of $70 million, maybe more, over the next five years, Nevada Development Authority President Somer Hollingsworth said.

A view of mirrors at an Ausra power plant in Liddell, Australia. COURTESY PHOTO

"This is an exciting day. This company is what we've been drilling for for a long time," he said. "This promises to bring new jobs and growth to this state, and that's what we're all about ... This is a nonpartisan, bipartisan product — everyone loves it."

If Ausra achieves its manufacturing and sales goals, it is poised to become the world leader in solar thermal development. The company has promised the technology and manufacturing system, which is the first to use automobile-factory style robotic assembly lines, will make solar thermal technology less expensive than gas-fueled plants. It plans to bring down costs enough to make solar thermal arrays cheaper than coal.

Its solar arrays will generate twice as many jobs as a coal plant.

The Las Vegas plant will produce only one type of solar thermal array, a flat-panel tracking system that could be less efficient than the trough-style system at Nevada Solar One, but which is significantly cheaper to build. The arrays will have the capacity to store the solar thermal generated power for hours to be used at peak times. (Reliability is often cited by Sierra Pacific Resources as the greatest obstacle to developing solar power plants for base-load use.)

Ausra's Linear Fresnel Reflector technology is unlike any other solar product used in commercial power generation in Southern Nevada today, said Rick Hurt, a solar energy researcher at UNLV's Center for Energy Research.

Like the Nevada Solar One array, the Ausra array uses solar thermal technology, which uses heat from the sun's rays to create steam. Large mirrors direct the rays onto tubes, called collectors, filled with water or other substances that it boils at a high temperature to power steam turbines.

It's basically the same concept as a fuel-burning plant, only the heat is created by the sun instead of burning coal or natural gas. The new array at Nellis Air Force base uses photovoltaic technology, which does not generate steam or have the power storage capacity of solar thermal.

The Ausra technology is composed of a series of flat mirrors that move to direct light onto one or more stationary collectors, while Nevada Solar One has flexible collectors attached directly to curved glass panels and trackers. The curved panels can capture more light throughout the day, but cost significantly more.

Despite its flat mirrors, the Ausra design has the potential to be just as efficient as trough-style arrays such as Nevada Solar One, depending on how efficient the tracker design is, Hurt said.

"Having the collector fixed means there's less mechanical joints. It can have fixed piping so you can have larger fields" he said. "It doesn't require near the power for pumping the fluids through and that adds to the efficiency."

And without so many moving or flexible parts, the supplies are much cheaper, Hurt said.

Ausra's plan is to save money on the front end, producing a cheaper array in a more efficient manner that can be quickly mobilized and begin producing power quickly.

"Efficiency doesn't matter when you're not paying for the fuel," O'Donnell said. "Sunshine is always free. What matters is how much it costs to build."

Ausra is hoping the price will lead to contracts for large solar thermal arrays throughout the Southwest. It is currently in negotiations with several utilities in this region and has a contract with Pacific Gas and Electric to build a $3 billion, 177 megawatt array in California's central coast region.

Sierra Pacific Resources President Michael Yackira could not comment on whether his company would be contracting with Ausra, but said it was planning to build its own solar arrays in the near future.

"Americans want clean power, and are tired of the market fluctuations, price increases and pollution from fossil power plants," Ausra President Bob Fishman said. "With market-priced solar power, we are entering the 'solar decade,' in which massive construction of solar plants will take place."

Ausra's decision to base its factory and regional operations in Southern Nevada came after years of talks with the Nevada Development Authority and local political leaders such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a renewable energy cheerleader who O'Donnell described as "extremely persuasive."

"Nevada has massive solar resources, available land and a growing demand for clean energy with huge markets next door in California and neighboring states projected to demand many thousands of megawatts over the coming years," Ausra Chief Development Officer Rob Morgan said. "Nevada's business-friendly climate, excellent transportation, workforce resources and large-scale need for clean power made it the obvious choice."