Clark County will soon be home of the world's largest solar power plant. Maryland's SunEdison and Las Vegas-based Powered by Renewables have partnered for the project which should break ground this summer. The Nevada solar power plant will almost double the output of the world's current largest solar power plant, which is located in Germany. That project was completed in 2004 and can power up to 1,800 households.
Incentive for the German plant came after Germany passed a Renewable Energy Law, which states that all electricity producers, including private individuals, get paid for the amount of power they feed into the national grid. As a result, thousands of Germans have installed solar panels on their houses.
Also encouraging is where the Germans built their solar plant - at the site of an abandoned and contaminated coal mine. Nevada is home to thousands of acres of wasteland; this project, however, will be built just south of Boulder City.
SunEdison and Powered by Renewables have also secured a reliable consumer: the United States military. PBR President Tim Carlson spoke about the tax benefits this project will bring.
"Energy independence is an important strategy for our military," Carlson said. "Because our project is powered by the sun, it reduces our dependence on foreign oil. And since energy from the sun is a free, sustainable, renewable resource, it also allows the military to control their energy costs. That's important for taxpayers."
This is exciting news for students and educators at the UNLV Center for Energy Research. UNLV CER Director Robert Boehm has been promoting the idea for years.
"This could be really big business in Nevada," Boehm said. "It's not a pipe dream to think that renewables could help diversify our economy.
"Unlike many other states, Nevada has the land to spare," Boehm added. "The prime real estate for renewable resources happens to be the land that nobody is using. In fact, just a small fraction of the land in Nevada owned by the federal government would be sufficient for a major facility."
The Nevada solar plant announcement coincided with the Department of Energy's unveiling of the "President's Solar America Initiative," which would increase government funding of solar energy research by 78 percent. The proposed budget for the president's plan is $148 million.
More major Nevada solar power projects are currently in the planning stages. Those plants might start breaking ground as soon as next year. LW
