From the largest solar power project in the UK, to the largest solar power project anywhere!

The top-guns at Nellis Air Force Base will soon harness Nevada's sunshine to charge 140 acres of photovoltaic arrays! Come year's end, when Nellis's solar plant comes on-line, it will be the largest solar energy provider in the world. Now that's what I call "Shock and Awe."

Once the mission's accomplished, Nellis will gather 30% of its energy from photovoltaics: 15 megawatts of electricity. The 7,215 soldiers who call Nellis their home will save over a million dollars a year on their electric bills.

The players in this coalition of the willing include SunPower Corp., Nevada Power, MMA Renewable Ventures, and, of course, the U.S. tax payer. In order to fund the plant, the Air Force and its corporate partners will take advantage of millions of dollars in both federal and state subsidies.

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Typical Americans
written by dfdsf , April 22, 2007

Brute force and grunt size rather than being smart.

The smart people have more efficient setups that dont take half a desert to install.

30%?
written by Hank , April 22, 2007

30% efficiency is, actually, about as efficient as economically viable solar cells get. We're no fans of the American Military here, but you can't call this inefficient. It might take a lot of area, but we're talking about 15 megawatts. That's a huge amount of electricity.

Lets not forget...
written by gfd , April 24, 2007

the metals and materials USED in the solar panels.

1) toxicity?
2) manufacturing emissions?

...
written by fdv , April 24, 2007

you have to be kidding toxicity? emmissions. What about the electricity that hybrid cars use does that have any problems get in touch with reality.

They could do better than that if they w
written by Pangolin , April 24, 2007

If the Air Force had been smart enough to shade the roofs of their buildings with those solar panels they could have saved an additional 20-30%. Now if they REALLY want to get smart they could swap out their existing HVAC systems with a geo-exchange system and save another 40% of their power usage.

Geoexchange heating and cooling works best where there's a large temperature difference between night and day like in the deseert. The system can bank thermal energy heat or cold in the ground from one part of the day to the other.

i love it !!
written by matt , September 19, 2007

i love the fact that people in america demean (because of recent event) are smart enogh 2 harness natural energy while us americans throw nasty gases in our air

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