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StumbleVision for desert solar power plant expands
Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Developers of a solar power plant planned for Coyote Springs now say the plant will be more than a third larger than originally envisioned.
California-based BrightSource Energy on Tuesday announced an agreement to build a 960-megawatt solar thermal power plant within the Coyote Springs development, 55 miles northeast of Las Vegas. The company had previously planned a 600-megawatt solar thermal plant for the site.
The plant will generate electricity for the Nevada and California markets, the company said.
BrightSource specializes in concentrating solar thermal technology that uses sunflower-like towers of mirrors called heliostats to reflect the sun’s rays to a liquid-filled tower. The liquid is heated until it turns into a gas, which turns a generator.
The Oakland, Calif.-based company plans to use a dry-cooled power tower solar thermal system, which uses far less water than wet-cooling technology. The company’s tower-power concentrating solar thermal technology is also expected to use less water than dry-cooled trough-style solar thermal power plants, spokesman Keely Wachs said.
The Coyote Springs plant is expected to use about 67 million gallons of water per year. That comes out to about 74,000 gallons of water for every megawatt generated.
Wet-cooled solar thermal power plants use up to 2.6 million gallons for each megawatt. Solar photovoltaic plants use about 16,700 gallons to produce one megawatt.
BrightSource has several solar thermal power plants planned across the desert Southwest, including a 400-megawatt plant planned for public land just across the California border near the Primm golf course. Construction on that plant is expected to begin next year. The company has also applied for a lease on BLM land in the Apex industrial complex for a 1,200-megawatt solar thermal power plant, according to BLM records.
•••
SolarNV is hosting its fourth annual solar home tour next week in Southern Nevada.
The self-guided tour includes stops at four commercial properties and 16 residential homes with on-site solar arrays.
The event, which begins at 9 a.m. Oct. 3 at the Springs Preserve, is meant to educate Nevadans about renewable energy and how small-scale generation has been implemented in homes and businesses here.
It also allows homeowners to demonstrate steps they have taken to save money, water and energy in their homes and share these tips with others.
“The goal is to educate people about renewable energy and to inspire sustainable energy choices,” SolarNV President Deidre Radford said. “It’s also fun to see what others have done.”
Among the stops on the tour are the Lied Animal Shelter and the offices of the Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee, which has an urban wind turbine as well as a solar array.
Advance registration is required and available online at solarnv.org.
•••
A UNLV professor best known locally for research on children’s exposure to lead has been appointed to the board of directors of the Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Center.
Shawn Gerstenberger, executive associate dean for the UNLV School of Community Health Sciences, was appointed to the board by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The Mickey Leland center is at the Texas Medical Center in Houston. Its board of directors is appointed every six years by the Senate majority leader, the speaker of the House and the president.
The research center’s mission is to conduct and fund research on the health effects of toxic air pollutants. Its research is meant to inform Congress about pressing air quality issues so it can create necessary legislation.
Gerstenberger is one of the nation’s leading researchers on the effects of lead in artificial turf and has published extensively on the harmful effects of lead in toys and other household objects. He also co-directs the Child Lead Poisoning Prevention Program in Southern Nevada, a partnership with the local health district that aims to identify and eliminate sources of harmful lead exposure in the community.
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So you guys are opposed to SNWA grabbing water from northern Nevada for Vegas, but you are OK with Whittemore grabbing the same water for a water wasting wet cooled solar plant. Where are those Vegas rooftop solar panels?
Not to worry - someone will find a "spotted frog" at the site and the environmentalists will put a stop to the program..LOL
Once again Sunlizard jumps in on a subject that he knows nothing about. Lincoln County Water district has sold its water for use on this project. Whittemore already owns water resources sufficient for his project and has approvals to move his own water. No grabbing allowed.
By the way BrightSource will never get their project approved at Apex. Too close to Nellis, the Air Force will never let that happen.
So let me get this straight, Coyote Springs is converting some 8,000 acres of its private entitled residential and commercial lands in order to develop a closed-loop, air-cooled thermal solar power generation facility that uses 1/10th of the water of similar water-cooled solar systems, can use its own and Coyote Springs' future residential grey water instead of fresh water, and helps meet our National goal to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and domestic coal.
Since my math shows this facility will only use around 200 to 250 acre-feet of water based on the quoted 67 million gallons (yeh, I know The Sun likes to make it sound like way more by using gallons), this means this is the equivalent of a scant 350 to 500 homes using LVVWD's current .52 afa of water per home in LV. Since I assume Coyote has way over that many homes entitled over the same 8,000 acres, it seems like Ms. Tavares may want to investigate a new story line and recommend Mr. Whittemore with The Sun's "Green Entrepeneur of the Year".
Anyway, I am sure NIMBYs like SunLizard will find something to complain about, they always do; as for me, I think this is a move in the right direction, and great news for Nevada!
I'm with you mitchbradley
If those like SunLizard had nothing to complain about they would have absolutely nothing else to do... some people like being miserable and negative.