On May 12, 2000
the United States
Interior Department
gave approval
for the largest
solar power
project
in the U.S.,
It will be built
by Warren Buffett’s
NV Energy company,
on 7,100 acres
of Federal lands
in the Mohave Desert.
At a cost of
one billion dollars,
the newly-approved
solar power facility,
near Las Vegas,
is called "Gemini".
It's not very far from
the recently-defunct
solar power facility
known as Crescent
Dunes.
The new facility
uses huge photovoltaic
cells to capture
sunlight and turn it
into electricity,
with backup power
batteries to store
electricity for use
when the sun
is not shining.
In Crescent Dunes,
huge mirrors had been
used to focus sunlight
on a tank of molten salt,
on top of a high tower.
The heated salt
was pumped down
and through a turbine
to extract electric power.
Source of quotes below:
Reno Gazette-Journal (RGJ)
“The $1 billion Gemini solar and battery storage project about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Las Vegas is expected to produce 690 megawatts of electricity — enough to power 260,000 households — and annually offset greenhouse emissions of about 83,000 cars.
It will create about 2,000 direct and indirect jobs and inject an estimated $712.5 million in the economy as the nation tries to recover from the downturn brought on by the coronavirus outbreak, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said.
The joint venture by Australia’s Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners and California-based Arevia Power is part of an integrated resource plan Nevada’s Public Utilities Commission approved last year for NV Energy, which is owned by billionaire Warren Buffet and is Nevada’s largest utility.
Coupled with a 380 megawatt AC battery storage system, it will be one of the first in Nevada to include batteries to enable power delivery after the sun goes down.”
Dr. Jay Lehr says:
“This is a fairy tale of absurdity being sold to Las Vegas just as the snake oil salesmen of the old west plied their trade.
It must have 100% backed up with fossil fuel or nuclear power to ensure that the communities’ electric grid can not let them down. Las Vegas of all places can not afford a blackout.
The mandatory back up fossil fuel must stand by running near full out and emitting carbon dioxide and producing no electricity until the sun can not fill the bill and it must step in.”
He ends with:
“The excess cost for the excess backup power will show up in the electric bills of the residents of Las Vegas as sure as night shall follow day.”
One unusual
proposal for
the new solar plant
is described in the
RGJ article:
“The first phase of the project
covering about 11 square miles
(28 sq. km)
of federal land is expected
to be completed next year
with 440 MW of solar capacity
]for use in Nevada.
Another 250 MW
of generating capacity
would be added
in the second phase
with the power sold
in Nevada or exported
to Arizona and California
in 2022.”
They expect to sell solar
electric power to California
and Arizona.
But California already
often produces more
solar power than needed.
When excess electric power
is produced, California energy
regulators order the power
to be shut off (known as
curtailment), or they pay
someone else to take it (AZ).
The plan for
this three-year
project is for
690 megawatts at
maximum capacity,
which is never
actually reached
with renewables.
But no such
batteries exist
on earth that
could take up
100% of the load
when the sun
is not shining.
If they could,
it would likely
only be enough
for a single night.
This is a fairy tale
being sold to
Las Vegas.
It must have
100% back up
with fossil fuels,
or nuclear power,
to ensure that
the communities’
electric grid can not
let them down.
Las Vegas
can not afford
a blackout.
The excess cost
for the stand by
fossil fuel
backup power
will show up
in electric bills
of Las Vegas
residents !