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Solana Generating Station

Solana Generating Station

Gila Bend, AZ

Focusing the Power of the Sun

In a testament to PayneCrest’s steadfast reliability, Abengoa increased PayneCrest’s scope of work 57 fold in the construction of the first-of-its-kind Solana Concentrated Solar Power Plant in Gila Bend, Arizona. The project earned PayneCrest an AGC Keystone Award. Spanning three square miles, Solana is the world’s largest parabolic trough plant. It is the nation’s first large-scale solar plant with a thermal energy storage system allowing it to provide power after sunset. The 250-megawatt (MW) concentrated solar power (CSP) facility reliably serves 70,000 Arizona Public Service (APS) customers.

“Because of PayneCrest’s commitment to fulfilling the expectation for the Solana project, we selected the firm to assist us in building more renewable energy plants in the U.S.” — Leonardo Maccio, President, Abeinsa EPC LLC

3,232

Mirrored parabolic trough collectors

500,000

Feet of grounding cable

118,000

Terminations

12,000

Instrument calibrations

560+

Miles of cabling

Project Highlights

More than $300,000 in cost savings by rerouting feeders, pre-drilling conveyers to facilitate installations and restructuring labor assignments
On-site CAD trailers finalized incomplete plans and delivered greater clarity to field installations
90,000 man hours with no recordable injuries in an aggressive 10-month schedule
Mitigated multiple hazards, including coal dust ignition sources and below-ground conduit installations
Complex electrical network included a 4,160-volt distribution, a 480-volt distribution, 120 control panels, instrumentation, fiber optics, paging, fire alarm, heat tracing, lighting and receptacles, extensive grounding, dust suppression, HVAC controls and high mast lighting
Shaved month from the schedule despite the challenge of a fluctuating river level and flooding