Huge thermal plant opens as solar industry grows

[unhappycamper]

http://www.adn.com/2014/02/12/3322868/huge-thermal-plant-opens-as-solar.html



Some of the 300,000 computer-controlled mirrors, each about 7 feet high and 10 feet wide, reflect sunlight to boilers that sit on 459-foot towers. The sun's power is used to heat water in the boilers' tubes and make steam, which in turn drives turbines to create electricity Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2014 in Primm, Nev. The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, sprawling across roughly 5 square miles of federal land near the California-Nevada border, will be opened formally Thursday after years of regulatory and legal tangles.

Huge thermal plant opens as solar industry grows
By BRIAN SKOLOFF and MICHAEL R. BLOOD
The Associated Press
February 12, 2014 Updated 19 hours ago

PRIMM, Nev. — A windy stretch of the Mojave Desert once roamed by tortoises and coyotes has been transformed by hundreds of thousands of mirrors into the largest solar power plant of its type in the world, a milestone for a growing industry that is testing the balance between wilderness conservation and the pursuit of green energy across the West.

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, sprawling across roughly 5 square miles of federal land near the California-Nevada border, formally opens Thursday after years of regulatory and legal tangles ranging from relocating protected tortoises to assessing the impact on Mojave milkweed and other plants.

The $2.2 billion complex of three generating units, owned by NRG Energy Inc., Google Inc. and BrightSource Energy, can produce nearly 400 megawatts — enough power for 140,000 homes. It began making electricity last year.

Larger projects are on the way, but for now, Ivanpah (EYE'-ven-pah) is being described as a marker for the United States' emerging solar industry. While solar power accounts for less than 1 percent of the nation's power output, thousands of projects from large, utility-scale plants to small production sites are under construction or being planned, particularly across the sun-drenched Southwest.

[SHRED]

1. So for $15,714 per home they could have had solar installed instead

More centralized corporate power production...yuck. Rooftop PV and solar water heating are far better alternatives that actually create energy independence for the consumer. With centralized/profitized energy sources we are beholden to the monthly bill and what they charge. Rather than these monstrosities I'd rather see public money going towards subsidizing home and business rooftop energy. These big projects are brought to us by K Street lobbyists.


--