Solar Power Tower

Crescent Dunes_2 ©SolarReserve Jun2014_hi (1)

Crescent Dunes will be generating electricity before the end of March, and SolarReserve’s south-central Nevada solar project won’t stumble out of the gate the way power-tower forerunner Ivanpah did, CEO Kevin Smith said in an interview with Breaking Energy. It would be an understatement to say there’s a lot riding on him being right. Crescent Dunes,… Keep reading →

Massive Solar Electricity Plant Provides Power To California Homes

BrightSource Energy says the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is doing just fine, and that all along the company expected the “power tower” concentrating solar plant in California to take four years to hit full stride. Meanwhile, the latest federal reports indicate that in the first three quarters of the year the plant produced a… Keep reading →

Massive Solar Electricity Plant Provides Power To California Homes

It’s Palen, not Palin, but it’s still proving to be controversial and unpredictable. Seemingly dead in December, then indicted in the press last month as a likely wanton bird incinerator, the Palen Solar Electric Generating System now looks like it might get the go-ahead. A California Energy Commission committee recommended approval of a scaled-down version… Keep reading →

Massive Solar Electricity Plant Provides Power To California Homes

What the flux? Renewable energy and its advocates and detractors are having a moment, that’s what, a bout of hysteria after the Associated Press revealed that, OMG, renewables aren’t a magical force capable of keeping our air conditioners humming and big-screen TVs aglow without exacting some toll. As with wind, the toll here is in… Keep reading →