National Solar Thermal Test Facility prepares for new tower construction

Construction on the new tower at Sandia National Laboratories’ National Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF) is planned to begin Feb. 16, 2023, with a groundbreaking ceremony to take place at the facility. The tower is part of the Phase III, $25 million award announced by The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on March 25, 2022, during a “100% Clean” webinar hosted by DOE Secretary Granholm.

The award is part of a $70 million multi-year DOE Generation 3 CSP Systems program that began in 2018. Phase three will include the building, testing and demonstration of a next-generation Concentrating Solar Thermal Power (CSP) plant.

A time-lapse camera (front of image) has been placed onsite to capture the construction of the Generation 3 Particle Pilot Plant built to demonstrate integrated particle-based concentrating solar power with six hours of thermal energy storage. An artist’s rendering of the new tower can be seen at the left of the image.  

Read more about Sandia’s Concentrating Solar Power Program.

 (Photo by Bret Latter; Rendering by Jeremy Sment and Kevin Albrecht)