Spanish developer Abengoa has vowed to continue with the Palen concentrating solar power (CSP) project despite the withdrawal of its planning application in September.
Abengoa and Brightsource had partnered to work on the 500MW site in California. The pair withdrew a planning application after being told it had to be reduced from two towers to one and must use up far less land.
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In a statement released today, Abengoa said it would acquire Brightsource’s stake in the project. It will revert to a single tower configuration with the addition of molten salt storage.
“Abengoa aims to bring forward a project that will better meet the needs of the market and energy consumers,” the company said. “Concentrating solar power, and specifically tower technology with thermal energy storage, can play a key role in helping California achieve its clean energy goals by providing the flexibility needed to maintain grid reliability.”
California has imposed storage requirement on the state’s main utilities. PG&E’s molten storage project with Rice Solar has been pre-approved for inclusion toward the utility’s share of the 1.3GW target.