The Mojave Desert straddles California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona. It boasts a number of superlatives beyond being the driest desert in the United States. Its Death Valley is 86 meters below sea level while the temperature down there often exceeds 120 °F (49 °C). Moreover it also has abundant sunshine averaging 9.9 hours a day just perfect for generating solar energy.
Numerous Mojave Desert Farms Drawing Abundant Sunshine
Solar energy is far from new in this vast desert spanning an area the size of Mississippi. The first commercial solar trough plants appeared here in the 1980’s and continue to generate 354 megawatts total.
This may be because there are significant population areas nearby thirsting for solar power from abundant sunshine. They appreciate the flexibility of a generating technology that can evolve from planning approval to commissioning in just a few years. The nine solar trough plants power 232,500 homes during daytime peak. They also have the distinction of displacing 3,800 tons of pollution per year by avoiding fossil fuels.
Numerous Other Green Initiatives Proved in the Mojave Desert
The abundant sunshine in this, vast arid place has proved a test bed for related technologies. There’s a 64-megawatt solar thermal plant near Boulder City, Nevada. While the Nellis solar power plant tracks the sun from the east to the west like a field of sunflowers.
An ingenious arrangement there allows each set of solar panels to rotate around a central bar to capture every ounce of solar energy.
However, the Ivanpah facility, 40 miles south-west of Las Vegas, is still the Mojave Desert’s largest. There, 347,000 heliostat mirrors direct vast amounts of sunshine to three solar power towers.
This immense energy boils water which in turn has capacity to produce 392 megawatts of green electricity. Plans are afoot to build more solar plants in the Mojave Desert to tap this never-ending resource of abundant sunshine.
Related
Batteries Closing Peaker Plants in California
Wind and Solar Could Re-Green the Sahel
Preview Image: ‘Solar Sunflowers’ at Nellis Air Force Base
