Nevada Solar One - The Hybrid Car of the Solar Power Generation

Solar Power Only Giving a Boost to the Natural Gas-Driven Turbines

The world's third largest solar array began production of electricity in the Nevada desert last year, pumping out 64 Megawatts of power, enough to power 14,000 to 15,000 homes during peak operating times in the middle of the day. Last week, federal, state and local officials held an official unveiling ceremony to celebrate the fully-operational plant.

This would be an incredible advancement and great news on the renewable energy front - if this was really a solar-driven electrical-generation facility.

The little tidbit about the plant that is being downplayed is that it will primarily use natural gas to drive the turbines, making it a solar-assisted power plant, not a source for generating electricity from renewable or sustainable sources.

That's the good news.

The bad news: a Spanish company, using Israeli-built parabolic mirrors, built the facility.

The even-worse news: the facility covers a surface area of 14 million square feet, or nearly 3 square miles, using the sun to heat a fluid to 750º F to drive standard electricity generating turbines. And the solar portion of the hybrid power facility only truly operates during the middle of the day.

The plant was built in accord with the goals of the state of Nevada, which has set a target of 5% of its electricity being generated by solar power by 2013. Nevada Power and Serra Pacific are under to a 20-year purchase contract with Acciona to buy the electricity being produced at the Nevada Solar One facility, also known as the Boulder City plant. The plant lies near the existing power grid.

At the ceremony, Acciona's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jose Manual Entrecanales said, "We chose Nevada [for the location of Solar One] for the outstanding commitment of this state to the development of sources of renewable energy."

And while a laudable goal it is, the question still needs to be asked -Is Nevada Solar One really fulfilling that mission?