It’s been quite the busy day in Nevada in terms of solar energy, as developers of two major solar power plants took steps toward completing their projects.
One is the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, whose developers earlier today earned federal approval for construction. The plant will be built by SolarReserve — a Santa Monica, California-based solar construction company that last week received approval to build a 150-megawatt (MW) Rice Solar Energy Project in southern California.
At 110-MW, the Crescent Dunes project is a bit smaller, but will still have a large impact on the surrounding economy. Beyond producing enough energy at peak output to meet the energy requirements of roughly 75,000 average American homes each year, Crescent Dunes will also create about 450 construction jobs.
The second major announcement included another California solar power project developer, Sustainable Energy Capital Partners (SECP), which revealed its plan to partner with POSCO Power to build a 300-MW solar installation in Boulder City, Nevada. Following completion, the Boulder City solar plant will be able to power about 135,000 average American homes each year. If all goes well, the plant should be up and running by the middle of 2011.
While POSCO Power and SECP are touting the venture as the biggest solar power plant in the world, it probably won’t be for long. If all goes according to plan, the Blythe Solar Power Plant in Riverside County, California, will have a generating capacity of 1,000 megawatts — or one gigawatt.
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