NRG joins Brightsource on solar project
- Power company NRG Energy said it would join with Brightsource Energy to build and operate a the world's largest solar thermal plant and will invest up to $300 million to become the lead investor in the project.
The majority of solar power projects developed to date have been photovoltaic systems, in which sunlight is turned into electricity using semiconductor materials in panels, but several large-scale solar thermal, or concentrated solar, projects are in development.
Thermal solar power stations like the Brightsource project use mirrors to concentrate sunlight on a fixed point to heat a liquid that produces steam to power a turbine.
NRG, which previously announced a partnership to develop thermal solar plants with eSolar, said construction on the 392-megawatt Ivanpah project in the Mojave Desert had begun and was expected to be in operation by mid-2013.
Ivanpah has received a $1.375 billion conditional commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy for a loan guarantee, and has obtained all permits and approvals from both federal and California state agencies.
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City officials take clean energy message to Georgia Power, PSC
ATLANTA - Savannah is among several Georgia cities that have led the charge forward in recent years to push for clean energy. Now, several of the state's largest municipalities are banding together to demand action from Georgia's largest energy provider.
Hearings regarding Georgia Power's Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) happen every three years, but this year for the first time the cities of Savannah, Decatur, Atlanta and Athens-Clarke and DeKalb counties were at the table.
"It's pretty unprecedented. It's such an important opportunity to get to represent ourselves and our citizens," said City of Savannah Energy Analyst Alicia Brown, the Savannah representative for…
