We are at a crossroads to our future.
Nye County has the opportunity to become a center for solar power technology and development. In addition to the supporting services, businesses and economic benefit that solar energy projects will bring, they will increase the demand for a workforce with high science, technology and engineering skills.
With more local jobs and nearby higher education opportunities available, all citizens will benefit, and our younger generation will have more opportunities at home.
This is not a new concept. Over 10 years ago, when Nye County was working the Nevada Science and Technology Corridor project, Siemens, Duke Solar, General Electric and others were interested in building solar power plants in the Lathrop Wells area and other areas within and around Amargosa Valley.
This opportunity was missed and these companies developed their plants elsewhere.
The sun shines brightly in the southwestern United States, and in some areas most of the days of the year offer unobstructed sunshine.
The power of the sun's radiation in many of these places is approximately one-and-one-half kilowatts per square meter at the earth's surface. This is tremendous energy potential that is being tapped for the renewable energy initiatives now underway.
One of the Department of Energy's goals, established five years ago, was for installation of 1,000 megawatts (that's one trillion watts) of additional concentrating solar power (CSP) systems in the U.S. by 2010. And that is just a start.
Within the next decade or so, the goal is to have solar energy account for a major portion of the power market.
Southern Nevada offers the greatest potential for solar power recovery in the state, and Nye County is the center of the most usable productive regions.
Prospective areas for solar power development must consider not only the number of sunny days but also restrictions based on ground slope, forests, bodies of water, restricted areas, highly urban buildup and sensitive environmental lands.
With all these considerations, Nye County has tremendous potential for being a key player in the solar energy market.
Maps from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) show the most promising areas in Nye County to be along the southern portion of its western edge and spreading out to the north, but still in the southern one-third of the state.
Applications of solar energy are not new, and we are familiar with some of them: solar cookers for camping, small photocells to power lights, calculators and other small instruments or somewhat larger ones for roadway safety devices, direct heating of water for swimming pools and home water heaters, and, on a more limited scale at present, solar voltaic cells for supplying power to the home.
Several weeks ago, Valley Electric Association hosted an energy symposium at the Pahrump Nugget where they introduced their domestic solar hot water heater program.
Bombard Renewable Energy also introduced a five-kilowatt, home-installed, solar-voltaic system for direct conversion of the sun's energy to electricity. In addition to direct savings from reduced energy costs, tax incentives are available to reduce purchase and installation costs for these domestic systems.
Large-scale solar plants for electric power generation have been built in the southwestern U.S. as well as around the world, and more are in the development and construction phases.
Closer to home, Clark County and the California side of the Mojave Desert have been the sites of successfully operating solar plants for several years. Much has been learned over the years, and solar power plants are now more efficient, less obtrusive to the environment and safe.
Several companies have notified the BLM they are submitting applications for right-of-way and development of solar power plants in Nye County. They are observing how the process is progressing on the first solar thermal plant now in the planning and scoping phases, Solar Millennium's two 242-megawatt CSP plants of the parabolic trough design to be located in Amargosa Valley.
If this first major solar project for the county remains "on track," other projects will follow.
The renewable energy movement has now gained momentum and is growing at a rapid pace. Nye County is in an excellent position to play a major part and reap large economic and other benefits.
As with Nevada's valuable mineral deposits, we also posses a rich renewable natural resource, which technology now allows us to effectively extract, and which the nation encourages us to use.
Let's welcome this solar technology and use it to secure a brighter future for Nye County.
Jim Mutton is a former Pahrump Town Board member and was representative for Pahrump to the Nevada Science and Technology Corridor project. He is currently teaching physics and math at Great Basin College. Previously, he was a Hughes Satellite Systems division manager and was an officer and instructor in the Navy's Nuclear Power Program.
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