Construction starts on world's largest solar array

A groundbreaking took place at Nellis Air Force Base, just north of Las Vegas, Nevada, in the desolate, arid, windswept Mojave Desert. The ceremony will initiate construction on what will be the largest solar photovoltaic (PV) array in the United States, capable of producing 15-18 megawatts of power. At least for a year or so, say Air Force officials, the plant will also constitute the largest such facility in the world, encompassing an investment of $100 million on 140 acres. The land will largely be covered by silicon wafers that will rotate each day to doggedly follow the sun across the sky.

The facility represents one of the U.S. Department of Defense's (DOD) largest forward leaps in developing renewable energy. It is symbolic of the DOD's efforts to reduce the high cost of fossil-fuel generated electricity that will increasingly, in the years ahead, characterize life in Southern Nevada.

Yet, in many ways, the new facility is a reminder that PV energy remains largely on the sidelines in the larger scheme of energy production in the area. The Nellis plant will produce electricity during the day - not after sundown. Lacking battery storage capacity, its power will constitute a useful supplement, not a primary generating source, for the base's own needs. Some estimates suggest the plant may supply only 25-30% of the base's needs. Those percentages hardly inspire confidence that the plant will produce any spare solar-generated power for Southern Nevada's high-growth communities - notably Las Vegas and Mesquite, traditionally dependent on cheap, abundant electricity, not to mention adequate water supplies from adjacent Lake Mead (currently down 100 feet from normal).

- As I have already noted earlier, these "world's largest solar power plants" are still maxing out below 20MW. On a good day, with the sun shining. Quite some distance from the 24x7 operation, baseload 500-1000MW of the traditional power plants (fossil fuels, nuclear, or hydro).

Perhaps we should consider space solar power. At least, the Pentagon is.

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