CA: Huge Solar-Plant Project Approved ( near Blythe )

Wall Street Journal ^ | OCTOBER 26, 2010 | CASSANDRA SWEET And SIOBHAN HUGHES

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

A proposal to build the world's biggest solar-thermal power plant in the Southern California desert got the go-ahead Monday from the Obama administration, which used the announcement to bolster its message that renewable energy creates jobs.

The $6 billion project is being developed by Solar Trust of America, a joint venture between Germany's Solar Millennium AG and privately held Ferrostaal AG on 7,025 acres of federally owned land near Blythe, Calif. The approval clears the way for the developers to seek federal grants and loan guarantees.

The Obama administration has been criticized over the past year for hurting job creation by holding up coal-mining permits and suspending deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico after the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

BrightSource is a US company....risen from the ashes of Luz International, which also was a California Company.

See my updates.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

It is a good use for the Desert out there....

I like exploring in the Mojave Desert.

There are people out there.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

To your point...see this related thread:

German Grid Aching Under Solar Power

***************************************EXCERPT INTRO****************************************

The German electricity grid faces instability because of too much solar power, an expert said.

Thanks to a generous feed-in tariff, the installation of rooftop solar panels and large-scale photovoltaic plants has exploded in Germany.

Stephan Kohler, chairman of the DENA agency, an energy adviser to the government, has warned that the green boom could turn into a disaster for Germany's aging power grid.

[thackney]

I looked at it from across the street for too many days.

We only wished we were in such a large metropolis like Barstow.

It didn’t take long to know every waitress by name in Daggett.

[Joe Boucher]

Don’t know how many folks here have been to Blythe,
but it is one sunny hot miserable place in the south east Calif Desert with temp exceeding 110 a whole lot.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

fyi

[hinckley buzzard]

The Solar Trust project reported above uses arrays of curved mirrors focussed on a central tube which contains the water/steam. It is not the "power tower" design at all. Probably a lot more efficient as it will require much less heliostatic activity to keep focussed on the medium.

[Wuli]

“The $6 billion project is being developed by Solar Trust of America, a joint venture between Germany’s Solar Millennium AG”

So, maybe the U.S. representatives for the German beneficiary of these gifts from the U.S. taxpayer has already decided how to buy enough American Express cash cards for a million$ worth, for under-the-wire Obama donations in 2012!!

[Osage Orange]

The desert has it's beauty.....

My kid sister lives in 29 Palms....

[thackney]

I think this was near a canyon we could drive through that had colors from minerals on the canyon walls that was really something to see. There is something similar in Death Valley.

Sadly, I’ve done enough desert pipeline projects that I may have the wrong location.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Yes but Laughlin is close and Vegas is further north via a 2 lane...goes thru Searchlight ...Sen Harry Reid’s home town.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Related thread:

WSJ Video Report: News Hub: U.S Approves World's Biggest Solar Plant ( Blythe Ca)

[AFreeBird]

I’m sure there’s some little endangered lizard or something out there that will have it’s habitat destroyed by this project. How many square miles will it take up?

[Joe Boucher]

Laughlin is interesting where as Blythe is a great place to have a radiator or auto air shop.
That’s about it, maybe a lemonaide stand.

[Vinnie]

< You don't get any power when it's dark.

They are planning on keeping that area on Daylight Savings Time year round. They claim that will add an hour of sunlight. :)

[truth_seeker]

“The desert has it’s beauty.....”

It takes more effort to find, see it, than a range of beautiful mountains or a river or an ocean.

But yes, the beauty is there, with lotsa critters and plants.

The “deserts” of the American Southwest lead you to places like Sedona, Bryce, Zion, Grand Canyon, etc.

[Osage Orange]

Yes, I've spent many days in the deserts of N. America, Baja, etc...

Canyon Lands is an awesome place.....Sedona, Navajo lands, etc...it's all really good.

Thanks

[dragnet2]

Suddenly everyone worried this isn’t a U.S. company....As thousands of our companies, entire industries across America long since moved to Communist China...

Hold it, we haven’t heard from the Desert Tortoise yet

They've been exported to Communist China too.

[Rebelbase]

“The desert has it’s beauty.....”

The most incredibly fantastic moonrise I’ve ever seen was outside of Needles. It seemed like it took up 1/3 of the horizon.

[wolf78]

Solar power, like ethanol, is not a ‘business’. It’s better understood as a welfare scheme. Your tax money is being used to feather-bed this useless parasitic project.

Sorry, but I have to disagree in that you cannot compare solar power and ethanol.

The problem with ethanol is science. The problem with solar is economics of scale. Let me explain: Ethanol doesn't make scientific sense for a number of reasons. First of all, photosynthesis is not a terribly efficient means of storing solar energy, just a few percent efficient. So even futuristic algae fuel only makes sense for "premium" applications like personal transport or aviation, not for heating your home. But corn is even less efficient AND it competes with food production. (The only thing that makes sense is to process agricultural waste into energy.)
Then you have a net energy gain of maybe 20% or so, meaning you need 4 liters of fuel to produce 5 liters of ethanol. Making your car engine 20% more efficient is cheaper and more sensible.
Solar on the other hand has a net energy gain of ~ 5-20 (400%-2000%). You make much better use of the insolation per area (e.g. a PV cell has an approx. ten times better efficiency than photosynthesis). What you need is economically viable energy storage and mass production to drive prices down - which if current market trends prevail will happen.

So solar might actually work - there are no obstacles when it comes to physics - it just isn't competitive yet with today's technology.

Ethanol on the other hand will most likely never work. And therein lies the difference.