A New Chapter Begins for Concentrated

Solar Power
This weekend, in the Desert outside Las Vegas, a major milestone was reached for
renewable energy that could represent a shift in how the fastest growing region in the
U.S. get its energy. Hundreds of people from around the world were on hand in Boulder
City, Nevada, to commemorate the groundbreaking for the beginning of construction on
the first Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) energy project in the U.S. in more than 15
years.

"If we want to get serious about reducing carbon dioxide emissions and lower our use of fossil
fuels, this is a way to quickly address that. I'm very optimistic about this technology."

-- Chuck Kutscher, Principal Engineer and Group Manager of the Thermal Systems Group at
the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Called Nevada Solar One, the 64 MW commercial-scale solar energy plant will
encompass 350 square acres, a nearly endless sea of mirrored troughs that will
concentrate the strong desert sunlight and convert it into 750-degree F thermal energy,
which can then be used to create steam for electrical power generation.

A combination of state policies and support from both the Governor and the legislature,
steady advances in this type of technology, all coupled with skyrocketing energy costs
have helped make this unique project a reality.

"Nevada has proven to be very forward thinking in promoting solar and other
renewables," said Solargenix President John Myles. "The main factor here is that you
can get very large blocks of power coming from solar energy in one single location. It is
very clearly the lowest cost solar energy that can be produced today."

The project is designed and led by Solargenix Energy, based in North Carolina, but
involves a host of companies from around the world. The groundbreaking this weekend
also made official a partnership between Solargenix and Spain's renewable energy
giant, the Acciona Group, which has acquired a 55 percent interest in the commercial
power plant division of Solargenix.
Gilbert Cohen, Vice President of Engineering & Operations for Solargenix, said the
project costs somewhere in the range of $220-250 million. He said the power is slightly
more expensive than wind power, but less than photovoltaic (PV) power, more
commonly used in small rooftop projects on homes or businesses. Other sources close
to the project put this price at somewhere between 9-13 cents per kWh. As more are
built, however, and they're scaled up even bigger, Cohen says a target of seven cents
per kWh will not be difficult to reach in the near future.

The Nuts and Bolts of Nevada Solar One

Germany's glass specialists, Schott -- a company familiar in the solar industry for their
solar photovoltaic modules -- is one of the primary equipment suppliers. In its first
large-scale solar thermal contract, Schott is providing more than 19,000 of their latest
vacuum tube steel and glass receivers, which in many ways can be considered the heart
of the project. It is these receiver tubes that the parabolic mirrors focus the sun's
energy on and they, in turn, absorb the solar radiation. Flabeg, also a German
company, will provide the mirror panels or troughs while industrial giant Siemens of
Sweden will provide the 75 MW turbine.

Many other companies are involved in other aspects of hardware and construction,
including the main construction contractor Houston-based EPC, Phoenix-based Hydro,
which is building the aluminum tracking frames that hold the mirrors. Israel-based Solel
is providing some backup receivers in case there are any supply issues with the Schott
receivers, according to Cohen. In all, as many as 750 people will be involved in the
construction and the power plant will have a full-time staff of 28.

Contrary to some press accounts, the project is not the largest of its kind in the world.
Nor is it the first. There are, in fact, nine similar projects in the Mojave Desert in
California -- two of them 80 MW in size -- that are operating above and beyond original
expectations. According to experts involved in the project, however, there are subtle
but significant changes made to this new version that will improve the overall efficiency
The older plants in the Mojave Desert, called SEGS, for Solar Electric Generating
Stations, were different in a number of ways. Those plants required a 25 percent
natural gas-fired backup to keep the heat transfer fluid temperature from fluctuating
wildly. Nevada Solar One is designed to be more efficient in holding its temperature and
requires only a 2 percent natural gas backup. More efficient and reliable motors will be
used to move the troughs that track the sun. The frames for these troughs are now
built out of lightweight aluminum instead of galvanized steel.

The receivers themselves are different as well. Christoph Fark, global manager for sales
and marketing for Schott's solar thermal division, says the close to 19,000 receivers
used in the project are the first commercial application of a new design from the
company. The receivers must be designed to withstand the daytime highs of 750
degrees F and the lower temperatures at night. This can be particularly challenging to
the seal between the outside glass tubing and the vacuum-packed steel receiver inside
that holds the heat transfer fluid, a special synthetic oil. Fark explained how Schott
invented a type of glass with the same thermal coefficient as steel so the two materials
would react in unison to the constant temperature stresses.
These complex receivers are currently made in Germany but if CSP technology becomes
a bigger player in the American Southwest, Fark suspects they could move some
production into the U.S.

"We see this as the beginning, we are involved in project discussion worldwide -- such
as the southern parts of Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East," Fark said. "We
hope the market picks up, and if so, then Schott is willing to invest in the production
side in the U.S. This is our overall strategy, to be where the customer is. We believe the
U.S. market offers huge potential for this technology."

The Right Place at the Right Time

On a broader scale, Nevada Solar One reflects a symbolic rekindling of this technology
approach, one that many experts say is particularly well-suited for areas like the
American Southwest where sunlight is abundant but energy is precious and increasingly
strained by population growth.

"This is a technology the utilities are comfortable with, it has proven reliability, it lends
itself to economies of scale, there clearly is still some room for price reduction, and also
it's a way to get large amounts of renewable energy deployed rapidly," said Chuck
Kutscher, Principal Engineer and Group Manager of the Thermal Systems Group at the
National Renewable Energy Laboratory. "If we want to get serious about reducing
carbon dioxide emissions and lower our use of fossil fuels, this is a way to quickly
address that. I'm very optimistic about this technology."

A wide variety of factors have collided -- everything from politics to the marketplace --
to make this project a reality.

"After many years the time has come where we don't have to explain anymore the need
for renewable energy, we don't have to explain the concerns about climate change, we
don't have to explain the instability created by oil resources that belong to only a few
countries when all countries are using these resources. Nor do we have to explain the
instabilities to energy from disasters like hurricanes," said Alberto De Miguel, Acciona's
Director of Corporate Development and Strategy. "Renewable energy is now accepted
more than ever by the public."

And that public acceptance is increasingly being turned into policy. Nevada is one of a
growing number of states with a mandate that electric utilities, in this case Nevada
Power Co. and Sierra Pacific Power Co., source a slowly escalating percentage of their
power from renewable resources. Eventually the two utilities will have to reach 20
percent renewable energy use by 2015. The law also contains a so-called "solar cut-
out" that requires at least one-fourth of that power to come from solar energy. The
project is projected to generate 130,000 MWh of power per year over the course of its
decades-long lifetime. All of its electricity production will be sold to Nevada Power and
Sierra Pacific Power under long-term power purchase agreements to help them meet
this requirement.

A Natural Fit for Tomorrow's Market

While Nevada's policy played a very strong role in supporting this project, perhaps the
next most influential factor is the natural gas market where prices have skyrocketed.
This is at the core of why experts inside and outside of Solargenix believe CSP will play
an increasingly important role in helping the rapidly growing American Southwest to
meet its energy demands.
"There are fundamental differences in the electricity marketplace versus 15 years ago,"
said Rhone Resch, Executive Director of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA),
who was involved in the natural gas industry before joining SEIA.

"Natural gas and peak power is incredibly expensive. Utilities are scrambling to find
power generation sources that are reliable for peak power," Resch said. "Those changes
are going to be what drives new plants like this. The beautiful thing with this project is
that it offers firm, dispatchable peak power."

Resch said utilities and the ratepayers they serve made an investment in natural gas for
the coming decades as a transition fuel but they are finding out now that it's too
expensive to afford. The power plants are fine, but the energy commodity is becoming
cost prohibitive and coal is often the next best option. This is relevant and fortuitous for
CSP technologies because natural gas power plants are not fundamentally so different
than a CSP plant. Just as today's fleet of natural gas plants uses a fossil fuel to create
steam for a turbine, CSP plants like Nevada Solar One also create useable, commercial-
scale steam, except only from the sun's energy, a consistently free and available
resource.

"Except for the troughs, everything else is a standard natural gas plant," said Scott
Sklar, industry consultant with the Stella Group. "That's what Solargenix has always
maintained, you're really buying a natural gas power block with solar attached. It can't
be that risky, after all the old SEGS plants have been up and have operated close to
flawless."

In addition to the power plant side of the project being something the utilities and the
traditional power industry is familiar with, Sklar said these types of projects can be
easily deployed close to where the power is needed, unlike commercial wind power
where the best wind resources are often not near where the power is needed. And while
wind power may offer a slightly lower cost per watt than CSP, wind power generation is
intermittent, whereas CSP offers consistent power all day long when energy demands
are highest.

"I dealt with this all the time, in the early days when Washington pundits and other
people thought solar thermal would go nowhere," Sklar said. "Or they would say 'this
stuff is great but it just isn't in sizes big enough to matter.' Well this is pretty
substantive. It's exciting and I think it will create a whole revival towards concentrated
solar power in the U.S."

The project is scheduled to begin production of electricity in March of 2007

Concentrating Solar Power in Action

The parabolic trough technology used in ACCIONA's Nevada Solar One™ plant represents a
major renewable energy success story of the past two decades and has the potential to
compete directly with conventional fossil fuel powered technologies.

ACCIONA ’s 400-acre, 64 MW Nevada Solar One plant utilizes proprietary tracking

technology to concentrate the sun’s rays and track the sun’s location during peak demand
hours. The plant employs 760 parabolic concentrators with more than 180,000 mirrors that
concentrate the sun’s rays onto 18,240 solar receiver tubes located on their focal line.
A mineral oil heat transfer fluid, which heats up to 735°F, flows through the receiver tubes
and is used to produce steam and drive a conventional turbine connected to a generator
that produces electricity. The plant produces enough energy to power more than 14,000
households annually.

Technology

• Uses 760 parabolic concentrators and more than 180,000 mirrors that concentrate
the suns rays onto 18,240 solar receivers
o The solar receivers heat a transfer fluid to 735° F, which passes through a
heat exchanger, changing water into steam to drive a conventional turbine
connected to a generator that produces electricity
o Utilizes proprietary tracking technology to concentrate the sun’s rays and
track the sun’s location during peak demand hours

Benefits Beyond Energy

 ACCIONA is committed to sustainable development
and environmental accountability. Clean, near
zero-CO2 energy production provides a necessary
alternative to costly, carbon-emitting energy
production processes that strain the environment.
While concentrating solar energy generates clean
electricity, it also avoids the environmental costs of
mining and pumping limited resources from the environment. Fuel extraction consumes
massive amounts of energy and simultaneously creates environmental damage. Because
solar resources are predictable and plentiful, we can put them to use while keeping the
earth clean and healthy.

Clean power

• Near zero-CO2 carbon emissions

• Avoided carbon emissions are equal to the amount of carbon 20,000 autos emit
annually
• Energy is saved and pollution is avoided by not transporting or extracting fuels: no
strip-mining, drilling, or trucking required

ACCIONA’s Nevada Solar One™ is Proving the Economic Benefits of Concentrating

Solar Power

ACCIONA’s Nevada Solar One™ plant has generated

significant benefits for Boulder City, NV, in a number of
ways including an increase in tax revenues from the
operating plant, long-term land lease revenues and
investments in community programs. The plant has
also added considerable value to otherwise unusable
desert land, since much of the land offering the best
solar resources is inadequate for farming, grazing or habitation. Additionally, a significant
number of jobs have been created, from the construction of Acciona’s Nevada Solar One
plant to its day-to-day operations.

Reliable and feasible power generation

 • Generates clean, reliable and renewable power during peak demand, when it is
needed most
• Can be easily integrated into an existing power distribution network

Energy security

• Provides greater energy diversity options in the North American market

• Electricity from concentrating solar energy is produced domestically and helps to
reduce our dependency on unstable foreign energy sources

Economically competitive and cost-effective over time

• Produces electricity locally, providing manufacturing and installation jobs for

Americans
• Is scalable, predictable and commercially viable

Increases land value

• Much of the land offering the best solar resources is inadequate for farming, grazing
or habitation
• Concentrated solar power generation adds considerable value to otherwise unusable
land
• Land value is preserved by avoiding pollution and contamination of the land, air and
water
• The local area benefits from the plant’s tax dollars, land lease revenues and
investment in community programs
• The Time for Concentrating Solar Power is Now
• ACCIONA Nevada Solar One™ is only the beginning of ACCIONA's commitment to
invest in the clean tech sector and expand the availability of solar power in the
United States. Ongoing improvements in technology, including new ways to build
storage capacity will continue to expand the solar energy capacity in the United
States. And as a committed leader in the clean energy movement, ACCIONA will be
there to make the solar revolution a reality.
• With 300+ gigawatts of solar energy potential available in the United States, there’s
more than enough power to meet our nation’s energy needs - sustainably. But
currently, solar power accounts for less than 1 percent of the energy consumed
 domestically. Solar energy is an untapped resource that can transform the production
of electricity in the Southwest. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that the
potential for U.S. solar energy generation could eventually replace fossil-fired power
plants, leading to a near-zero carbon grid within just a few decades.
•

The Future, Responsibly

An economic boom bigger and more powerful than the Internet

boom of the 1990s is happening now, spurred by the widespread
demand for renewable and clean energy technologies that enhance
our security and protect our natural resources. Several factors are
driving the growth of the clean tech sector.
 • Growing public concern about climate change and the health of our environment
• Prices of fossil fuels and natural gas are volatile
• Federal and state governments are supporting fuel diversity
• Energy independence is a top national security concern

ACCIONA is at the vanguard in the development and implementation of renewable

and clean energy technologies.

Concentrating Solar Power

ACCIONA's revolutionary Nevada Solar One concentrating solar power plant offers a win-win
solution for all involved - the environment, communities, utilities, and consumers.
Domestically produced clean energy reduces global warming, provides jobs for Americans,
and supplies critical peak power at market-competitive prices. Concentraing solar power is
protected against fuel price and availability fluctuations and can be easily integrated into an
existing power distribution network.

• Nevada Solar One™ uses 760 parabolic concentrators and more than 180,000
mirrors that concentrate the sun’s rays onto 18,240 solar receivers.
• The solar receivers heat a transfer fluid to 735° F, which passes through a heat
exchanger, changing water into steam to drive a conventional turbine connected to a
generator that produces electricity.
• Utilizes proprietary tracking technology to concentrate the sun’s rays and track the
sun’s location during peak demand hours.

SCHOTT has increased the efficiency and reliability of its new PTR 70 receivers by
developing:

• New anti-reflective glass coatings: Previous glass coatings failed to adhere to solar
receivers' borosilicate glass outer envelope tubes over time. SCHOTT has developed
a new anti-reflective glass coating for its receivers that resists abrasion for years,
while still allowing more than 96% of solar radiation to penetrate the receiver and
heat the heat transfer fluid within.
• New absorptive steel coatings: In order to achieve peak efficiency the steel absorber
tube located inside the outer glass envelope tube needs to absorb as much solar
radiation as possible while releasing as little heat as possible. SCHOTT's new
 absorptive steel coating improves radiation absorption rates to 95%, while helping
ensure that no more than 14% of the heat from the steel tube is released.
• Improved glass-to-metal seals: In other solar thermal receivers, differences in the
thermal expansion of the inner steel tube and the outer glass envelope tube resulted
in tube failure when there were severe shifts in temperature. The new PTR 70
receiver uses a new borosilicate glass with the same thermal expansion coefficient as
steel. The result is a receiver that can handle the changes in temperature that occur
as coolNevada desert nights quickly become hot desert days. This improvement was
designed to reduce both maintenance time and the need for replacement parts.
• A more efficient design: In order to maximize the energy captured by the receiver, as
much of the receiver as possible needs to be used to heat the HTF that flows within.
By positioning the receiver's bellows on top of its glass-to-metal seals, SCHOTT has
been able to expand the percentage of the length of the tube used to capture solar
radiation to 96%. An independent study by the German Aerospace Center on the
new PTR 70 tubes at the Plataforma Solar de Almeria testing site in southern Spain
has shown that this new design improves the receivers' overall efficiency by 2% over
previous models and competitive products.

"Even a small increase in a solar thermal power plant's efficiency and reliability can result in
a large increase in kilowatt hours of electricity generated or a significant reduction in plant
downtime or maintenance hours," said Alex Marker, SCHOTT Solar Thermal Research Fellow.
"The advancements that SCHOTT has made in solar receivertechnology will enable Nevada
Solar One to spend less money to make more electricity, benefiting the plant's owner
Solargenix, the plant's utility customers, and ultimately Nevada's energy consumers."

About SCHOTT: SCHOTT is a technology-driven, international group that sees its core
purpose as the lasting improvement of living and working conditionsthrough special
materials and high-tech solutions. Its main areas of focus are the household appliance
industry, pharmaceutical packaging, optics and opto-electronics, information technology,
consumer electronics, lighting, automotive engineering and solar energy.

SCHOTT has a presence in close proximity to its customers through highly efficient
production and sales companies in all of its major markets. It has more than 17,000
employees producing worldwide sales of approximately $2 billion. In North America,
SCHOTT'sholding companies SCHOTT Corporation and its subsidiary SCHOTT North America,
Inc. employ about 2,500 people in 16 operations.

The company's technological and economic expertise is closely linked with its social and
ecological responsibilities.

SCHOTT is one of the leading solar industry companies worldwide. The international
technology group supplies components for almostall photovoltaic and solar thermal
applications. PV solar electricitymodules with various performance ratings are used for
decentralized power generation. Receivers are the key components in solar thermal
parabolic trough power plants, a future technology for centralized power generation along
the Earth's sunbelt.