Several other blogs have pointed out the announcement of the world's largest solar photovoltaic plant in Nevada by Powered by Renewables and SunEdison. In another part of Clark County (Boulder City, to be exact), another solar project will be going up: the 64MW Nevada Solar One solar thermal power plant. This project, which will be announced next week by developer Solargenix, will be powered by the SCHOTT PTR 70® solar receiver:
The SCHOTT receivers convert energy from the sun into electricity by using concentrated solar radiation from the plant’s parabolic mirrors to increase the temperature of the thermo-oil Heat Transfer Fluid (HTF) flowing through the receiver to over 750° F. This super-hot fluid is then used to turn water into steam, which drives a turbine and generates electricity. Solargenix plans to use 19,300 of SCHOTT’s PTR 70 receivers at Nevada Solar One.You don't have to live in Nevada to know that its a great place for solar energy development. More importantly, projects like these show the potential of state renewable portfolio standards to drive the development of renewable energy projects. Very cool...
Nevada Solar One is expected to begin providing energy to the grid in 2007, and will produce enough electricity to meet the energy demands of about 40,000 households. The use of solar power to produce electricity at the plant, rather than fossil fuels, will result in a reduction of greenhouse gases, equivalent to removing approximately one million cars from the nation’s highways.
Photograph Courtesy of SCHOTT.
Categories: solar, energy, thermal, Nevada, development
