The bankrupt operator of the Crescent Dunes solar project in Nevada has won court approval of a restructuring that will cut debt and reshuffle ownership of the government-backed power plant, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Bankruptcy Judge Karen Owens said on Thursday that she would confirm a chapter 11 exit plan covering project operator Solar Energy LLC following a trial last month that considered the objections of a dissident stakeholder. Crescent Dunes has been shut down because of technical problems. But the company in line to take over the 110-megawatt site, an affiliate of Spain’s ACS Servicios Comunicaciones y Energía S.L., has been working to repair the power plant so it can resume operations. Crescent Dunes, located in Nye County desert about halfway between Las Vegas and Reno, was supposed to be the first plant of its kind used at commercial scale in the U.S. An array of mirrors was designed to focus the sun’s rays on a stream of superheated liquid that could be kept hot in insulated tanks for weeks, heating steam generators even after the sun sets. Competing technologies had become cheaper by the time the plant became operational in 2015, while Crescent Dunes faced technical setbacks of its own. The company filed for chapter 11 protection in July. The restructuring will repay less than half of a $425 million loan issued in 2011 to build the project and guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Energy while handing 100 percent ownership of Tonopah to the ACS affiliate, Cobra Thermosolar Plants Inc. It is also funding the restructuring.
