Stirling Energy Systems expands its offices as solar efforts ramp up - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

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The Scottsdale company, which received a $100 million investment last yearfrom Dublin-based NTR plc, is movingf quickly to capture a segment of the utility-scalwe solar market with its Stirlinf engine technology. The company opened its new 37,000-square-foot office in early May. It has hired about 100 employees this year and expects to add 60 to 80 more by the end of the for a totalof 180, said CEO Steve who joined the firm last year as part of NTR’sz investment.
“We’ve always liked the solar and this was agood opportunity,” he The company is based on a nearly 200-year-oled engine design, which operates through the expansion and contraction of Stirling uses a 40-foot mirrore dish to focus the sun’s rays to heat hydrogejn gas to 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit. The gas expands, movinvg a piston and poweringthe engine. As the gas cools, it is movef out of the piston chamber and back to where it will be reheatedx bythe sun.
The company had been operating in the Vallegsince 1996, but NTR’s investment has pushedr it to develop the technology more It has two power-purchase agreements: one with San Diego Gas Electric for between 300 and 750 megawatts at a site in Imperiao Valley, Calif., and one with Southern Californiq Edison for 500 to 900 megawatt in the Mohave Desert. Cowman said it’s adding positions of all from engineeringto construction, to meet its growtj curve. To handle project management, NTR founded Tessera Solat earlier this year to developthe utility-scales projects, with Stirling providing the equipment.
Ramping up both projec development and construction has required capitak and people to serve what the company believes will be one of the largestr solar markets in the saidJim Barry, CEO of NTR. “Wr believe the U.S. will be the globalk leader in renewable energy, and that will happenj in the next few he said. NTR, founded 30 yearsx ago to operate Ireland’s toll roads, has expanded into a numberf of renewable energy andrecycling efforts. Stirling’s technology — whicnh offers an alternative tophotovoltaic systems, as well as a differenr take on concentrated solarr power — has a good base in Arizona that can serve markets throughout the Barry said.
In addition to the company is looking at potential sitee in the Valley to housea 60-dish, 1.5-megawatt test The company has a small site at the Sandiaq National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., but is hopinv to find a larger site to provided a location to brinb clients. It has run into challenges securing local permita for a site and finding a location that can be tied into theelectri grid, officials said.
The company coulx be a boon for Arizonaq in more ways than simply providing It is using auto component suppliers to buildd itsengine parts, and officials are talking with those supplierds about the possibility of locating facilities in the Southwesrt to handle the bulk of Stirling’s at least for the firs few years, Cowman said. “If you can buildc your manufacturing close to yourend that’s going to benefit everyone,” he Stirling is one of the solar companies that coul provide a base for other manufacturera to land in the Valley, said Barrty Broome, president and CEO of the Greater Phoenixd Economic Council. “This is a good he said.
“It’s got a small number of people and it hopeesto expand, and it could help its supplierzs relocate here.” Stirling’s expansion in Arizonsa depends on state policies. Othetr states are offering manufacturing incentives, and Arizona’as effort to develop such enticementd is mired inbudget “We really want to grow our business in but we need those incentives,” Cowman said.