Ivanpah Solar Project: World’s largest concentrating solar power plant

(photo credit: BrightSource)

• LOCATION: On 1,400 ha of federal land at Ivanpah Dry Lake, California, US 

• ACCOLADE: 2012 Energy Project of the Year

• PRODUCTION: 370 MW nominal (392 MW gross), serving 140,000 homes annually

• PARTNERS: BrightSource Energy (technology provider), NRG, Google, Bechtel Corporation, and the Department of Energy

• CUSTOMERS: Pacific Gas and Electric and Southern California Edison

• DURATION: From October 2010 to 2013

• HOW IT WORKS: System uses state-of-the-art field of software-controlled mirrors, called heliostats, to reflect sunlight to a boiler filled with water atop a tower. When sunlight hits the boiler, the water inside is heated and creates high-temperature steam. The steam is used either in a conventional turbine to produce electricity or in industrial process applications.

(Source: Technology Review & BrightSource website)