The Sierra Sun Tower, a project by eSolar, began generating power in 2009 and is located in southern California, in Lancaster. At the site, two towers are surrounded by 24,000 mirrored panels, which reflect sunlight onto receivers on one of two 160-foot towers.
Located at Nellis Air Force Base in Clark County, Nev., the Nellis Solar Power Plant generates more than 30 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year. The $100 million project started generating power in late 2007; the plant draws power from 72,000 sun-tracking solar panels that cover 140 acres of land.
A 48-megawatt plant in Boulder City, Nev., the Copper Mountain Solar Facility began operations in December of 2010. The 775,000 panels that coat 380 acres of land make this the largest photovoltaic facility in the United States, as of April 2011. Only four countries in the world have larger photovoltaic plants in operation.
Nevada Solar One is a concentrated solar power plant in the Eldorado Valley near Boulder City, Nev. More than 180,000 trough-shaped mirrors focus sunlight on oil-filled pipes. At more than 700 degrees F, the oil boils water into steam, which powers a turbine and generates electricity.
Seven separate facilities make up Solar Electric Generating Systems (SEGS), located on 1,500 acres around the desert. In much the same way as at Solar One, trough mirrors heat oil, which boils water and spins turbines. At peak production, the 900,000 mirrors at SEGS facilities can power in excess of 230,000 homes. The SEGS facilities, which were built throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, have a generating capability of 310 megawatts.
