Economics
Solar Energy Shakeout: Concentrating vs. Photovoltaic
As the economics of green energy change, a technological shakeout will create a new set of winners and losers
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Sometime next year, BrightSource Energy’s $2.2 billion Ivanpah solar power station will become fully operational and begin feeding enough green electricity to California’s two largest utilities to power 140,000 homes. Located in the Mojave Desert, 45 miles south of Las Vegas, the 392-megawatt plant works like a giant reflector. Its 173,500 computer-guided solar mirror arrays focus sunlight onto three 45-story towers. The heat generated by the sun’s concentrated rays boils water inside, creating steam to run electrical turbines. Spread across 3,500 acres of public land, Ivanpah is the largest plant of its kind. It may also be among the last of its kind ever built in the U.S.