Bechtel Group, builder of the world’s biggest solar-thermal power plant, doesn’t see the technology as a competitive source of electricity compared with natural gas.
“With gas at $2.50, it’s very hard to compete against that,” Brendan Bechtel, president of the closely held company, said in an interview Tuesday at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York. “I don’t see it in the near future.”
The 377-megawatt Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in southern California went into operation in February 2014. The so-called power tower system uses almost 175,000 mirrors to focus sunlight onto boilers atop three 450-foot (137-meter) towers, generating steam that drives a turbine. The plant is owned by NRG Energy, Google and BrightSource Energy, and produces enough electricity for 140,000 homes.
Solar-thermal technology was more popular several years ago, when it was viewed as a competitor to traditional photovoltaic solar panels, which have plunged in price by about two-thirds in the past five years. Demand for the solar-thermal systems has waned since then, while installation of panels has surged.
Renewable energy also competes against electricity from gas, which reached a three-year low this month. While there’s still significant demand for solar power, there’s less interest in the more expensive power towers.
“With these low prices for gas, it’s hard for renewables to compete,” said Bechtel, 34. He was named chief operating officer and president last year, the fifth generation of his family to hold that office since the San Francisco-based company was founded in 1898. Bechtel is the biggest U.S. engineering and construction company and has built large-scale infrastructure projects in 160 countries.
