Tessera Solar, the developer of a promising concentrating solar power (CSP) technology, says that AES Solar, a joint venture between AES Corp. and Riverstone Holdings, has acquired the Imperial Valley solar project, a 709 MW concentrating solar power (CSP) project that was under construction near El Centro, Calif.
It is the second of its two major projects approved for federal lands in the US southwest.

Tessera was designed to develop 709 megawatts (MW) of CSP using a Sterling engine technology, owned by sister company, Sterling Energy Systems. But the company has made it difficult to align funding. In December, the company sold the development rights to 850 MW Solar Power Project Calico Road K Sun.
The project development was halted in December 2010 by a court decision on the request of Quechan Tribe.

AES Solar plans to move the project forward and is committed to working with San Diego Gas & Electric with its obligations under the power of sale of businesses.

Now, with the sale of the Imperial Valley project, Tessera has no longer large projects in the late stages of development, which means unique SunCatcher have to go untested in a utility scale in the near future.

AES Solar said it intends to move the project Imperial Valley and is committed to working with San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG & E) to meet the power purchase agreement (PPA) project.

Tessera sold  the proposed 850 MW solar power plant K Road Sun in December after facing the potential lawsuit. Imperial Valley was sued by a Native American tribe in California.