Company breaks ground on $106 million solar plant in Nevada

Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006 | 10:27 a.m.

Company breaks ground on $106 million solar plant in Nevada BOULDER CITY, Nev. - An energy company broke ground over the weekend on Nevada Solar One, which it called the largest solar thermal power plant to be built anywhere in the world in 15 years.

Solargenix Energy, a subsidiary of Acciona Energy SA, said it formally began construction on the 64-megawatt plant in the Eldorado Valley of Boulder City on Saturday.

The $106 million solar project on 300 acres is scheduled for completion by March 2007, when the Solargenix will begin selling energy to the Nevada Power Company and Sierra Pacific Power Company.

The plant is expected to provide enough power for about 40,000 households.

"Nevada has proven to be very forward thinking in promoting solar and other renewables," said Solargenix president John Myles. "We are looking forward to helping Nevada and these utilities to capitalize on their abundant natural resources."

The plant will use some 19,300 solar receivers, which are parabolic mirrors that direct the sun's heat onto tubes to heat a special fluid to 750 degrees. The fluid then transfers heat to a steam generator to produce electricity.

The last U.S. solar thermal power plant was completed in Cramer Junction, Calif., some 15 years ago.

Last week, Las Vegas-based Powered by Renewables Corp. and SunEdison LLC of Baltimore said they plan to build an 18-megawatt photovoltaic plant by the end of the year in Clark County. They planned to expand and eventually supply enough energy to power 36,000 homes.

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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com