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Bechtel to build solar plant in California
BrightSource Energy, developer of large-scale solar plants, has contracted with engineering giant Bechtel to build a 440-megawatt solar power station in California's Mojave Desert.
According to California-based BrightSource, the Ivanpah Solar Energy Generating System, when fully operational, will nearly double the amount of solar thermal electricity now produced in the United States.
The complex, consisting of three separate plants, will displace more than 450,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually, equivalent to the elimination of at least 75,000 cars, BrightSource said.
The three Ivanpah plants are to be built in the Mojave Desert near the California-Nevada border on federal land controlled by the Bureau of Land Management. Construction is scheduled to begin early 2010, following final permitting by the California Energy Commission and the Bureau of Land Management.