Solar Joint Venture to Make a Footprint in the U.S. Southwest

An line-focusing parabolic trough collector. Photo from Solar Trust.

In the race for who will become the juggernaut of the emerging solar power market, two notable players in the industry have come together in a joint venture partnership to form Solar Trust of America, an integrated solar solutions company.

Parent companies, Solar Millennium and MAN Ferrostaal, jointly say that the new venture company will provide “a complete turnkey solution in connection with the development, construction, and financing of large-scale concentrated solar power plants in the southwestern region of the U. S.”

Uwe T. Schmidt, chairman and chief executive officer of Solar Trust, said, “With thousands of fully-funded and completed industrial projects in the combined portfolios of our business partners, we expect to become the industry leader in the development and construction of these solar thermal power plants in the U.S.”

Solar Trust will offer services including: project development, plant layout design, engineering, procurement and construction, supply chain management, plant operations and management, financing, and equity participation.

“The company currently has multiple solar thermal power plants in advanced stages of development in the southwestern region of the U.S. Each plant, if constructed, will feature highly efficient, environmentally friendly solar thermal power generating approximately 250 megawatts of electricity each, or enough from each plant to power 80,000 homes for a year,” said Josef Eichhammer, president and chief operating officer of Solar Trust.

“Each plant is expected to directly employ more than 800 skilled workers during the initial construction phase and create approximately 100 permanent jobs for operations, maintenance, and management employees,” added Mr. Schmidt.

The solar thermal power plants are expected to feature large-scale, line-focusing parabolic trough collectors arranged in long rows of farm-like arrays that concentrate, capture, and transfer the sun’s heat energy and feed it into steam driven turbines to generate electricity.

Solar Millennium owns a total of 70 percent of Solar Trust through affiliated companies, and MAN Ferrostaal owns the remaining 30 percent of the joint venture company.