Brightsource to build nearly 1GW of Solar Thermal in Nevada

BrightSource announced this week that they’re expanding their solar build-out in southern Nevada. Their original plan was to build 600MW, but they’ve expanded the total area to allow them to build almost 1 GW of solar power generation capacity.

The deal for the 360MW of extra generation capacity, for a total of 960MW, comes right on the heals of a 500MW cancelled solar power development in the Mojave desert due to environmental concerns. This deal is better suited because it is located on private lands, which aren’t subject to the regulation and scrutiny as when companies build on BLM and other public lands.

The Coyote Springs development is located north of Las Vegas, straddling the Clark and Lincoln county lines. Originally imagined as a distant suburb with more affordable housing (at the time) than Las Vegas, the recession, high gas prices and the long commute (60 minutes each way) have put the damper on those plans. By using these private lands for solar power generation, Coyote Springs can secure income for that land, and BrightSource can cut a lot of the red tape out of the process of building solar power facilities.

There are transmission lines nearby, however most of the power would feed into Las Vegas – one of the issues I’ve been reading up on lately was the transmission gap around Las Vegas. There is transmission lines coming in from the north terminating near Apex, and then again from the south to California and the Eldorado Valley (where there are many other solar power projects), but nothing through the city.

[via Reuters]

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