Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) is a concentrated solar power plant in California, United States. With the combined capacity from three separate locations at 354 megawatt (MW), it was once the world's second largest solar thermal energy generating facility, until the commissioning of the even larger Ivanpah facility in 2014. It consisted of nine solar power plants in California's Mojave Desert, where insolation is among the best available in the United States.
NV Energy is a public utility which generates, transmits and distributes electric service in northern and southern Nevada, including the Las Vegas Valley, and provides natural gas service in the Reno–Sparks metropolitan area of northern Nevada. Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, it serves about 1.3 million customers and over 40 million tourists annually.
There are several solar power plants in the Mojave Desert which supply power to the electricity grid. Insolation in the Mojave Desert is among the best available in the United States, and some significant population centers are located in the area. These plants can generally be built in a few years because solar plants are built almost entirely with modular, readily available materials. Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) is the name given to nine solar power plants in the Mojave Desert which were built in the 1980s, the first commercial solar plant. These plants have a combined capacity of 354 megawatts (MW) which made them the largest solar power installation in the world, until Ivanpah Solar Power Facility was finished in 2014.
The Nellis Solar Power Plant is a 14-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic power station located within Nellis Air Force Base in Clark County, Nevada, northeast of Las Vegas. The power plant was inaugurated in a ceremony on December 17, 2007, with Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons activating its full operation. On average, it has since generated 32 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually and supplied more than 25% of the power used at the base.
Switch is a company based in Las Vegas, Nevada, that develops and operates the SUPERNAP data center facilities and provides colocation, telecommunications, cloud services, and content ecosystems.
Solar power in Nevada is growing due to a Renewable Portfolio Standard which requires 20% renewable energy by 2015, and 5% from solar power. The state has abundant open land areas and some of the best solar potential in the country.
NextEra Energy Resources, LLC (NEER) is a wholesale electricity supplier based in Juno Beach, Florida. NEER is a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, a Fortune 200 company. Prior to 2009, NextEra Energy Resources was known as FPL Energy.
The Blythe Mesa Solar Power Project, also known as the Blythe Solar Energy Center, is a 485 megawatt (MWAC) photovoltaic power plant near the city of Blythe in Riverside County, California. It occupies about 2,000 acres of public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management in the Mojave Desert. The construction uses CdTe thin film panels from the U.S. firm First Solar, and the majority of the output is being sold to Kaiser Permanente and Southern California Edison under 20-year power purchase agreements.
The Copper Mountain Solar Facility is a 802 megawatt (MWAC) solar photovoltaic power plant in Boulder City, Nevada, United States. The plant was developed by Sempra Generation. When the first unit of the facility entered service on December 1, 2010, it was the largest photovoltaic plant in the U.S. at 58 MW. With the opening of Copper Mountain V in March 2021, it again became the largest in the United States. It is co-located with the 64 MW Nevada Solar One, 150 MW Boulder Solar, and 300 MW Techren Solar projects in the Eldorado Valley, thus forming a more than 1 gigawatt (GW) solar generating complex. By comparison, generating capacity at the nearby Hoover Dam is about 2 GW.
The Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project is a solar thermal power project with an installed capacity of 110 megawatt (MW) and 1.1 gigawatt-hours of energy storage located near Tonopah, about 190 miles (310 km) northwest of Las Vegas. Crescent Dunes is the first commercial concentrated solar power (CSP) plant with a central receiver tower and advanced molten salt energy storage technology, following the experimental Solar Two.
The Stillwater GeoSolar Hybrid Plant is a combined 61 MW solar energy and geothermal power plant in the U.S. state of Nevada. Located 12 miles (19 km) NE of Fallon, near Stillwater, the site includes a 26MW solar photovoltaic plant and a 2MW solar thermal plant that were added to a 33MW geothermal plant.
Goodsprings Waste Heat Recovery Station is a 7.5MW heat recovery system located in Goodsprings, Nevada. The plant uses the waste heat generated by the Goodsprings Compressor Station on the Kern River Pipeline to generate electricity. The plant is owned and operated by NV Energy and is the first renewable energy plant owned by the company.
The Silver State South Solar Project is a 250 megawatt (MWAC) photovoltaic power plant located in Clark County, Nevada, and near the previously completed 50 MWAC Silver State North Solar Project and the 530 MW gas-fired Higgins Generating Station. The project was completed in late 2016 and was constructed by subcontractors for First Solar. The plant is owned and operated by a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, and power is being sold to Southern California Edison.
The Boulder Solar project is a 150 megawatt (MWAC) photovoltaic power station near Boulder City, Nevada. It was built in two phases by SunPower using its Oasis Power Plant system. The project is co-located with several other large solar power projects in the Eldorado Valley.
The Sandstone Solar Energy Project was an up to 1,600 megawatt (MW) solar thermal power project with 16 gigawatt-hours of energy storage, planned just to the east of Tonopah, about 170 miles (270 km) northwest of Las Vegas. The project was about up to eight 200 MW solar towers with integrated molten salt energy storage technology. The project, developed by SolarReserve and owned by Sandstone Solar Energy, LLC. was anticipated to cost about $5 billion. Planned energy output is 5,600 GW·h per year.
Eagle Shadow Mountain Solar Farm is a planned 420 MWp (300 MWAC) photovoltaic power station north of Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada on the Moapa River Indian Reservation. The facility is being developed by 8minutenergy Renewables and when completed will be the largest photovoltaic system on tribal lands in North America. It is also the largest component within NV Energy's current tranche of renewable energy projects that will create over 1 Gigawatt of new electricity supply.
The Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project is a 250 megawatt (MWAC) photovoltaic power plant located in Clark County, Nevada on the Moapa River lands of the Southern Paiute people. The project was commissioned in March 2017 and was constructed by First Solar and its sub-contractors in close consultation with the Moapa Band of Paiutes and federal agencies. It is the first utility-scale solar project to be located on North American tribal lands, and is anticipated to evolve as a model for similar future economic and environmental partnerships.
The Techren Solar Project is a 400 megawatt (MWAC) solar photovoltaic power plant near Boulder City, Nevada. Electricity production began with completion of the two building phases in 2019–2020. The project is co-located with several other large solar power projects in the Eldorado Valley.
The Fort Churchill Solar Array is a 19.9 megawatt (MWAC) concentrator photovoltaics power station near the city of Yerington in Lyon County, Nevada. It is the largest assembly of SunPower C7 tracker low concentration PV (LCPV) technology in the United States. The facility was constructed for Apple Inc. to service its Reno Technology Park Data Center.
