Why don't they build a giant Solar Power Plant in the Nevada desert ?

Question

By "they," I mean the government or a major corporation.

It has hit me that Solar and Wind power could be used to pump water into a giant resevoir and that this resevoir ( with water turbines of course ) could be a year round source of potential power.

Answer 1

Actually there are multiple different ideas to use solar power , PV panels is one so also is using the heat directly to boil water etc.

There is another idea which talks of building solar power towers, its basically a huge tower with turbine fans and air inlet at bottom and top.

During daytime the hot air from bottom moves upwards and turns turbines to generate power, during nighttime the reverse happens.  So effectively you get power as well as there is a huge greenhouse at base which harbours lots of plants/agriculture.

The scientist who has worked on this is from Srilanka and claims it could be the wonder power solution in deserts.

the figures are staggering but if it works this could be a miracle solution.

Answer 2

Nevada already has enough power plants including existing solar power plants & transmission losses through current wire power lines make it impractical to transmit power much over 200 miles from the source.

Answer 3

I saw an great documentary about what you are talking about.  They were actually talking about areas like Death Valley and the like.

There is an opportunity for this into the future, but the cost effectiveness and technology is not there yet to make this a reality.

Geothermal is something they are talking about also.  It would work like a nuclear reactor, except the steam would be generated by pumping water down into the earth several miles where temperatures get up to several hundred degrees and then the rising steam runs the turbines.

There is a misconception that a nuclear plant creates nuclear energy for power.  It actually creates heat to make steam and thus run the turbines the same way.

Answer 4

"endangered species"

Answer 5

Gov build them? Worst idea ever. A corporation can do anything at almost half price as what a gov can.

Solar panels are very expensive and don't really put out enough power to make them worthwhile. Yeah, they are earth friendly, but really! They should build nuclear power plants in the middle of nowhere. That way, if something happens, nobody will be around.

Answer 6

good thinking!

Answer 7

Nevada photovoltaic plants:

http://www.lvrj.com/business/12586841.ht...

http://www.solartoday.org/2007/mar_apr07...

Mesquite NV proposal:

http://www.mesquiterenewables.com/index....

Nevada water is a precious commodity . . one political candidate proposal:

http://www.campaignsitebuilder.com/templ...

Answer 8

The idea of storing energy in water mass is an old one, but producing energy directly from solar energy is yet more expensive than from conventional sources, and storing it would make it more expensive

Answer 9

The primary obsticals are cost and land use requirements:

Solar power is not free, and is in fact, not even cheap.  The cost of the necessary collectors, support equipement etc must eventually be amortized via a charge on the electricity generated.  At the present time, using currently available technology, this cost exceeds the cost of conventional power generation.

Large scale solar generating facilities require considerable land area, much more than conventional generation facilities.  In addition, solar facilities must be located in areas that are often ecologically fragile.  The erection of such a large system in such a fragile biome will result in significant ecological damage.

Answer 10

One problem with your thinking (regarding the giant reservoir) - Nevada is the driest state in the United States.  

So where exactly, do you propose they get the water to fill this giant reservoir?  Groundwater pumped to the surface?  That would only lower the groundwater tables in many areas - which will dry up natural springs, and will also impact farmers/ranchers in those remote areas of Nevada.  

I don't have a problem with your idea about the solar generating stations, but those do take huge amounts of land to make them viable enough to produce sufficient electricity.  However, unless they use photovoltaics to produce electricity, they'll need water for the plant - and water is in short supply in Nevada (as I've already mentioned).  If they're heating up a fluid to produce steam to run a steam turbine generator, they'll need cooling water for the condenser which will condense the steam back to usable water in their boilers.

Answer 11

"They" are starting to build solar power plants in the desert:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power...

I'm sure you'll see more and more of this as time goes on.

Answer 12

because they will need that area for future casinos