Once touted as a clean-energy blueprint, Nevada solar plant sells for cents on the dollar

The Crescent Dunes solar energy plant near Tonopah was sold for $7 million this summer, according to federal court records. The buyer was Sons of Liberty Construction. The facility, which cost more than $1 billion to build and place in service, had been backed by a $737 million loan guarantee from the Obama administration.

Once touted as a first-of-its-kind facility and a blueprint for clean, affordable electricity worldwide, the 110-megawatt project used molten salt storage to generate power, even at night. It featured nearly 10,350 heliostats that heated salt to 1050° F to produce steam and drive a turbine.

But the plant faced ongoing problems, including leaks in its hot salt tank and operational shutdowns. It lost its power-purchase agreement with NV Energy and went through two bankruptcy cases. The second bankruptcy led to the sale for a fraction of its original cost.

Project lender Patrick Hogan, founder of CMB Regional Centers, called the project 'a total disaster.' The developer, SolarReserve, had begun work in 2008 and secured the federal loan guarantee in September 2011, shortly after the Solyndra bankruptcy.

The project involved numerous entities across multiple states and countries, including the Energy Department and NV Energy, and was built on land leased from the federal government.

Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal