An article in today's newspaper written by Dana Hull, says that California Energy Commissioner Jeffrey Bryon has issued a 576-page (!) report recommending that BrightSource Energy's three steam turbine solar power plants totaling 392 MW be approved for construction in the Mojave Desert, near the California/Nevada border, adjacent to I-15.
The construction of the plants are expected to create up to 1000 jobs. The plants will be built on 3,500 acres of federally owned land. The plants will have a total of 173,500 heliostats! These mirrors will heat a solar boiler, creating steam that will drive the electric generators.
The BLM is expected to give its final approval for the project within 60 days and construction could begin later this year. The plants will be built in the Ivanpah Valley. If the plants are ultimately approved by the California Energy Commission, Ivanpah would be the first utility-scale solar power plant built in the State in 25 years.
BrightSource Energy has about 200 employees, most of whom work at its offices in Israel. It is backed by venture capital firms Draper Fisher Jurvetson, VantagePoint Venture partners, Google.org and others and has received a $1.37 billion conditional loan guarantee from the Department of Energy.
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Topic: Solar Power Plant passes a regulatory hurdle (Read 858 times)