Solar plant to be built near (California) Nevada border

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http://www.desertdispatch.com/news/solar_1872___article.html/energy_ivanpah.html

November 2, 2007 - 12:39PM

Solar plant to be built near Nevada border

By JASON SMITH, staff writer

The Mojave Desert could be getting another solar plant.

The California Energy Commission accepted an application Thursday from BrightSource Energy, Inc., to build a 300 megawatt solar generating complex on Ivanpah Dry Lake near the Nevada border. If approved, the Ivanpah facility will be the first large solar energy plant built in the state since 1991, according to a statement from the commission.

Charles Ricker, a senior vice-president of BrightSource, said that Ivanpah was chosen for the site due to its proximity to power transmission lines and the availability of 200 acres of flat desert space. The site will be leased from the Bureau of Land Management, Ricker said.

“The best locations for the type of solar plants that we build is really the High Desert,” he said.

The Ivanpah complex will consist of three towers each surrounded by several hundred thousand square feet of mirrors. The mirrors refocus the sun’s energy onto a water boiler at the top of the towers which creates steam to power the generating turbines. This technology differs from the process used at the Daggett Solar Energy Generating Station, which boils a type of oil to run the turbines, Ricker said. Many of the engineers from Luz International, who designed the Daggett facility and nine other solar plants across the Mojave Desert, now work at BrightSource, he said.

Ricker said the energy commission’s recently enacted requirement to have California generate at least 33 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2017 is driving power producers to consider solar projects. He said that due to its reliability, solar is a better fit for the California area than other alternative energy options, such as wind and geothermal plants.

Construction of the Ivanpah facility could start as soon as 2009 depending on regulatory approval, Ricker said. The $300 million construction project will require hundreds of construction workers to build and a smaller number of employees to operate the plant, he said.

On Monday, Solar MW Energy Inc. and Ecosystem Solar Electric Corp. announced plans to build another solar power plant off of Lenwood Road near Barstow. Construction of the 54-acre site is expected to begin in 2009 and finish in 2010.