With the backing of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the Interior and Energy departments last week signed an agreement in principle to develop a 25-square-mile site at DoE’s Nevada Test Site to demonstrate new solar technologies.
The “Solar Demonstration Zone” is to be located in the southwest corner of the Nevada Test Site, which is adjacent to the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, on lands owned by Interior’s Bureau of Land Management and administered by the DoE’s National Nuclear Security Administration, the semi-autonomous DoE weapons agency.
DoE will use the site to demonstrate concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies, which use mirrors to concentrate sunlight and boil water or heat-transfer fluids, thus creating steam to drive conventional electricity-generating turbines.
In a press release announcing the initiative, the agencies said the solar test site will provide a critical link between DoE’s technology development and commercialization efforts.
The agencies also said plans are underway to create new DoE funding opportunities for demonstration projects at the site that will include matching private-sector investments.
In a statement, Reid said he was “very pleased, but not surprised” by the administration’s choice of location for the solar test site because Nevada offered excellent solar resources, among other factors. The agencies said DE selected the site after reviewing 26 possible locations.