Message #577 From:
TheMachine Date: February 24, 2008 02:11:42 PM
Solar power generator dedicated in S. Nevada
Saturday, February 23, 2008 10:19 PM CST
BOULDER
CITY, Nev. (AP) - The founder of Apple Computers, the first woman in
space and a Hollywood actor and activist joined officials from a
Spanish company dedicating a solar power generating station Friday in
the Nevada desert.
Acciona executives say the 400-acre Nevada
Solar One project provides enough electricity to serve 14,000 homes,
and demonstrates the viability of commercial-scale concentrating solar
power production in the United States.
‘‘We
launched this project in Nevada because of the existing solar resources
and the capacity to provide a significant portion of the electricity
consumed by a city like Las Vegas in the hours of peak demand,''
Acciona chairman and chief executive Jose Manuel Entrecanales said in a
statement.
Apple founder Steve Wozniak, former NASA astronaut
Sally Ride and actor Ed Begley Jr. joined Entrecanales and other
Acciona officials at the 64 megawatt mirror farm about 20 miles
southeast of the Las Vegas Strip.
Company
officials say Nevada Solar One is among the largest concentrating solar
power plants in the world, and the first of its kind to be built in
more than 16 years.
Covering an area of more than 200 football
fields, it has 182,000 curved mirrors that track and concentrate the
sun's rays to heat an oil that then boils water into steam, driving an
electric turbine.
Acciona Energy North America chief executive
Peter Duprey said the system, which became operational last June,
demonstrates the value of solar power as a clean energy source in the
Southwest United States.
‘‘We expect Nevada Solar One to be just
the beginning of a long term commitment to expand the solar industry in
the United States,'' he said.
