A 1-GW PV and Solar Thermal Plant for the Dept. of Defense

By Michael Kanellos

Not only will it be big, it will involve the two main types of solar.

Acciona (ACXIF.PK) Solar Power, Clark Energy Group and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin development of a 1-gigawatt plus power plant at Fort Irwin in California this Thursday.

The plant will include both photovoltaic panels as well as mirrors and turbines for solar thermal power. Consider this the wave of the future. Some companies are already moving toward hybrid power plants which combine gas turbines with solar thermal systems to keep a more constant flow of power on cloudy days. A PV-thermal farm ideally will let landholders maximize their real estate by plunking down solar panels in corners of land where more thermal equipment might not make sense.

Acciona built Nevada Solar One, the 64-megawatt plant outside of Las Vegas that helped reinvigorate solar thermal in the U.S. It is building more plants in various global locations.

The Army considers it a pilot project to meet its energy policy, which calls for conservation and the promotion of alternative energy generation. (More details on the project at that link.) Like the U.S. Department of the Interior, which is setting aside land for solar power development, the military also intends to make some of its vast land holdings available for all types of renewable energy generation.

Comments

[jerrydd:]

They are being smart as they know the biggest threat to our future is energy supplies. RE is inexpensive and will look even better as fissol fuels rise.

What they need is in most ships is nuke heat sources like Hyperion units and on many bases too. These make 35MW for 5 years sealed with no maintaining. Then just exchange the core.

Oct 13 01:40 PM