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BrightSource dropped Controversial plan for solar thermal power facility in Mojave Desert

By Amarendra Bhushan for CEOWORLD Magazine Updated:September 19, 2009

Solar thermal company BrightSource Inc has dropped plans to build a solar power plant in the Mojave Desert, losing a battle with environmentalists and a U.S. senator who want to preserve the surrounding area.

Privately held BrightSource had applied with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to build a 500-megawatt solar thermal power plant at the Broadwell Dry Lake area in California.

The project site is part of a larger area that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, wants to make into a national monument, Reuters reported.

The plant would have been located on lands that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is seeking to transform into a national monument. The Los Angeles Times reports that BrightSource’s plan to develop on lands known as Broadwell Dry Lake, which lies within Sleeping Beauty Valley, was of particular concern.

News of the company’s announcement came as a welcomed surprise to environmentalists. “BrightSource should be saluted for their corporate responsibility,” Myers said. “A major conflict between renewable energy and environmentalists has just evaporated.”

Elden Hughes, former chairman of the Sierra Club’s California-Nevada Desert Committee, called the company’s announcement “fantastic news.” “Broadwell is one of the most beautiful vistas in the desert,” he said. “I’ve seen it covered with yellow flowers to the horizon in all directions.”

BrightSource has several other planned solar plants in California and Nevada, including:

- Two 100-megawatt concentrating solar thermal plants and one 200-megawatt concentrating solar thermal plant on 3,500 acres adjacent to the Primm Valley Golf Course on the California side of the border.

- A 600-megawatt solar thermal project on 3,840 acres in the Coyote Springs development 40 miles north of Las Vegas.

- A 1,200-megawatt solar thermal power plant on 2,000 acres of public land near Apex.

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Tagged with: BrightSource Inc, Mojave Desert, solar power plant, Solar thermal, Solar thermal company

thermal imaging education

By building the solar plant it can be more environment friendly for people will be able to use natural energy if thi s project is made possible

williamnewman

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