Stirling Energy Systems expands its offices as solar efforts ramp up - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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The Scottsdale company, which received a $100 million investment last yearfrom Dublin-baserd NTR plc, is moving quickly to capturse a segment of the utility-scals solar market with its Stirling engine technology. The company openesd its new 37,000-square-foot office in earlyh 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’sa investment.
“We’ve always liked the solar space, and this was a good opportunity,” he The company is based on a nearly 200-year-old engine design, which operates through the expansion and contraction of Stirling uses a 40-foot mirrored dish to focus the sun’ss rays to heat hydrogen gas to 1,40o degrees Fahrenheit. The gas expands, moving a piston and powering the engine. As the gas cools, it is move out of the piston chamber and back to wher e it will be reheated bythe sun. The companhy had been operating in the Valley since but NTR’s investment has pushed it to develop the technology more quickly.
It has two power-purchase one with San Diego Gas & Electriv for between 300 and 750 megawattzs at a site inImperial Valley, and one with Southern California Edison for 500 to 900 megawatts in the Mohavwe Desert. Cowman said it’s adding positions of all from engineeringto construction, to meet its growtyh curve. To handle project management, NTR founded Tessera Solart earlier this year to developthe utility-scal projects, with Stirling providing the equipment. Ramping up both projecgt development and construction has required capital and peopls to serve what the company believes will be one of the larges t solar markets inthe world, said Jim Barry, CEO of NTR.
“Wre believe the U.S. will be the globa l leader in renewable energy, and that will happen in the nextfew years,” he NTR, founded 30 years ago to operate Ireland’s toll roads, has expanded into a numbed of renewable energy and recycling Stirling’s technology — whichh offers an alternative to photovoltaic as well as a different take on concentratede solar power — has a good base in Arizon a that can serve markets throughoutg the Southwest, Barry said. In addition to the company is looking at potential sitexs in the Valley to housea 1.5-megawatt test location. The company has a small site at the Sandi a National Laboratoriesin Albuquerque, N.M.
, but is hoping to find a largetr site to provide a location to bring It has run into challenges securing local permit s for a site and finding a location that can be tied into the electricd grid, officials said. The company coulf be a boon for Arizonq in more ways than simply providing It is using auto component suppliers to build itsengine parts, and officials are talkingf with those suppliers aboutr the possibility of locating facilities in the Southwest to handlee the bulk of Stirling’e projects, at least for the first few Cowman said. “If you can build your manufacturing close to yourend that’s going to benefiy everyone,” he said.
Stirling is one of the solard companies that could provide a base for otheer manufacturers to land inthe Valley, said Barry president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economicf Council. “This is a good example,” he said. “It’zs got a small number of people and it hopeseto expand, and it coulc help its suppliers relocate here.” Stirling’es expansion in Arizona depends on statre policies. Other states are offering manufacturing incentives, and Arizona’s effortg to develop such enticements is mired in budget problems. “We really want to grow our business in but we needthose incentives,” Cowmanb said.