World’s Largest Solar Project for Nevada Military Base
by Warren McLaren, Sydney 
on 02.21.06
Recall how in July ‘05 when we profiled Sunedison for offering a Product Service System (PSS) in solar power? Probably not, but tipster Chris L might’ve, because he pointed us to news that the company has now partnered with Powered by Renewables (PBR) to develop the “world’s largest solar photovoltaic project. As the press release states this 18 megawatt (MW) project will almost double the current largest array of 10MW in Germany. This new installation will be built in Nevada to provide energy to a military base, though according to an informative story at RenewableEnergyAccess.com, it is known yet which facility this will be. The plant will be concentrated in one site and take up several square miles. The general press release also mentions that Nevada plans to be energy independent by 2020 with PBR and and SunEdison also involved in projects that will total 36MW - equivalent to the power needed by 36,000 houses. ::PR News Wire.
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This is a very dumb idea. It has to be politically motivated. I solar generating field of that size should not be using PV that has a limited lifetime. Soloar PV should be used for small project. We have a serious shortage of PV and the price is only going up. Wich will discourage the private sector from installing PV. 10MW of PV, what a waste. Solar Troughs or sterling cycle solar... these are technologies that are much more enviro friendly. Someone should get the word out and stop this madness.
I'm sorry to dissapoint you but the world's biggest solar plant is being built in Portugal. It as the size of 25 soccer fields and can produce up to 116Mw, enought to supply power to 130.000 homes. We have to have something good here in Portugal. It's an investement of 426 million euros and it's going to create 800 jobs. That's very good for our economy. Siemens, Villa Lohberg and the Portuguese Government are the partners.
I know this is an old article, but it's seems glaringly wrong. Unless i'm missing something.
From your article this installation will occupy several square miles, and only yield 18 megawatts? Something doesn't add up.
There are 27878400 square feet in a square mile (5280 feet/mile * 5280 feet/mile)
Assuming that the average solar panel can produce 10 watts/foot**2 , theoretical power output for 1 square mile = 278784000 watts or roughly 279 megawatts.
Worst case scenario, it seems that you wouldn't even need one square mile to produce 18 megawatts.
o_O