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    Large-scale ‘solar farm’ technology

    BrightSource Energy is the first solar developer to break ground on a utility-scale solar project in California. Here’s a look at the Ivanpah site and its potential impact on desert species that live there:

    Artist’s conception of Ivanpah project
    Impact on desert ecosystem
    Solar projects in the desert

    Artist’s conception of Ivanpah project

    The first phase of its six-square-mile Ivanpah facility began in the Mojave Desert near the Nevada border in October 2010. It is expected to be completed in 2012.

    Impact on desert ecosystem

    The massive solar facility will alter thousands of acres of Mojave Desert habitat. The land may look barren, but it’s a fragile landscape teeming with life:

    Solar projects in the desert

    Multiple large-scale solar energy projects have been proposed in California’s desert, mostly on federal land. Here is a look at those projects, which are in various stages of approval by the California Energy Commission, and the potential output in megawatts for each.

    1. Solar Millennium Ridgecrest
    250 megawatts
    2. Beacon Solar Energy
    250 megawatts
    3. Abengoa Mojave Solar 1
    250 megawatts
    4. Hidden Hills Solar
    500 megawatts

    5. Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System
    370 megawatts
    6. Calico Solar
    664 megawatts
    7. City of Palmdale Hybrid Gas-Solar
    570 megawatts (520 MW natural gas, 50 MW solar)

    8. Victorville 2 Hybrid Power
    563 megawatts (513 MW natural gas, 50 MW solar)
    9. Desert Sunlight Solar Farm
    550 megawatts
    10. Desert Harvest
    150 megawatts
    11. Rice Solar Energy
    150 megawatts

    12. Solar Millennium Palen
    484 megawatts
    13. Genesis Solar Energy
    250 megawatts
    14. McCoy Solar
    750 megawatts
    15. Solar Millennium Blythe
    1,000 megawatts
    16. Rio Mesa Solar
    750 megawatts

    17. Imperial Valley Solar
    709 megawatts
    18. C Solar West
    250 megawatts
    19. C Solar South
    200 megawatts
    20. Mt. Signal Solar Farm No. 1
    600 megawatts
    21. Centinela Solar Energy
    275 megawatts
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