Solar power project (392 MW) in Mojave Desert gets $1.4 billion boost from stimulus funds

[jpak]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/22/AR2010022204891.html

The Energy Department on Monday announced a "conditional" $1.4 billion loan guarantee for a solar thermal power complex in the Mojave Desert that would ultimately produce as much as 392 megawatts of electricity.

The loan guarantee would be drawn from the resources given to the Energy Department under the economic stimulus bill adopted last year. While the terms of the solar loan guarantee -- like the terms of nuclear loan guarantees announced last week -- are still being negotiated, the Obama administration highlighted the jobs it said would be created.

BrightSource, the project developer, estimates that during the construction phase, the solar power complex will employ about 1,000 people. Operation of the plant will require 86 permanent jobs. BrightSource's construction contractor is negotiating labor agreements with various trade unions, the Energy Department said.

Construction could start as early as later this year if BrightSource gets the necessary permits. Earlier this month, the company scaled back the proposed size of the third and final phase of the project because environmental groups had objected to the project's impact on rare species such as the desert tortoise.

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[havocmom]

1. Yee HAW! Now that's what I'm talkin 'bout!

More of that please. If we give solar a level playing field, we just might get some real progress on this ol planet

Then, give wind some seed money. I would like to see these on every street light pole in America too:



Wind does not have to be all massive turbines with long transmission lines. We could do it local and still do it.

[Dogmudgeon]

7. What is your idea of a level playing field?

I keep seeing this stated as a complaint about The Devil's Lightning (i.e., nuclear energy), but it is NEVER accompanied by any facts, figures, or evidence that can be checked -- the sole exceptions being when part of that playing field is being discussed, and even there, no reference is made to the playing field as a whole.

What would this "level playing field" look like? Why/how is the playing field not level?

--d!

[NNadir]

2. 1.4 billion for a 392MW plant with 20% capacity utilization that destroys pristine desert?

This is an environmental nightmare.

It won't be there 20 years before the Santa Anna winds tear it to pieces, and the toxic crap will leach out of it forever after.

As for those jobs, I very much doubt that running around the desert with bottles of windex and paper towels pays that much.

[jpak]

4. Yeah we should dig up the SW for uranium or dump sulfuric acid in the ground to mine it

:rofl:

[PhD]

3. Do you have any idea how wasteful this project really is?

They still haven't figured out where all the water required by this monstrosity is supposed to come from.

[jpak]

5. Gee how much water does it use?

More than the 300+ MW of solar thermal that has been operating in the CA desert since the 1980's?

no water monstrosity required

phd

:rofl:

[PhD]

6. Yes, and our aquifer is being drained faster than it's being filled

One of these facilities being proposed for my town is estimated to require as much water as a city of 100,000 people.

We don't have that kind of water here in the Mojave, especially given how much of our water is stolen by Los Angeles through the aqueduct.

[Vinnie From Indy]

8. Are not these solar systems closed

I was under the impression that the water used by these large arrays is for the most part a closed system that does not continually have to draw large amounts of water. It simply gets hot, cools and is then piped back through the system to get hot again.

[madokie]

9. What the hell

where is the water used? What process of this type project uses that much water? Maybe a name change would be in order here :shrug: phd

[PhD]

10. Solar thermal power plants heat water for steam to turn a turbine

Pretty much all power plants use a process to create steam for turning a turbine to generate electricity. Only the heat source varies--burning coal, oil, or gas; using nuclear decay; using geothermal vents; or in this case using mirrors to focus solar energy. Much of the steam is lost in the process requiring stable supplies of new water to continue operating. That is simply not the case in the Mojave Desert which only receives about 2 inches of rain a year. I also live close to a geothermal plant that has endless supplies of heat but is expected to exhaust its water supply within 20 years.

[XemaSab]

11. The mirrors have to be cleaned

:P

[kristopher]

12. Water use is obviously at the heart of the issue, the location is 5 miles south of this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primm_Valley_Golf_Club

Which is a small piece of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primm_Valley_Resort

How much water does the golf course and resort use in this "pristine" wilderness? I wonder how they overcame the massive public outcry that must have occurred when the golf project was proposed...

I mean, it couldn't possibly be Rethuglicans working for the nuclear and fossil industries that are behind this crusade against solar, could it?