nuclear-news

Nevada to export solar energy, not import nuclear wastes

“Nevadans are well positioned to use their world-class natural resources and talented workforce to be an exporter of clean solar energy rather than an importer of hazardous nuclear waste and polluting fossil fuels,”

Nevada Nuclear Test Site to Host Solar Demonstration Zone, Environment News Service, LAS VEGAS, Nevada, July 9, 2010 (ENS) – Advanced utility-scale solar energy technologies soon will be tested at a sprawling federal site in the Nevada desert where nuclear weapons were tested 60 years ago.Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada gathered Thursday in Las Vegas to announce their agreement to turn 25-square miles of the former Nevada Nuclear Test Site into a Solar Demonstration Zone……………
The Energy Department will use the site to demonstrate innovative concentrating solar power technologies. CSP systems concentrate the Sun’s energy and capture that energy as heat, which then drives an engine or turbine to produce electrical power………..

Solar Energy Industries Association President and CEO Rhone Resch applauded the site selection. “Solar energy is already one of the fastest growing industries in the world, and this project ensures that Nevada will be at the center of this booming industry,” he said.

“Nevadans are well positioned to use their world-class natural resources and talented workforce to be an exporter of clean solar energy rather than an importer of hazardous nuclear waste and polluting fossil fuels,” said Resch.

“There are currently 22 gigawatts of utility-scale solar projects in the development pipeline, enough to power 4.4 million households with clean, safe energy and create tens of thousands of jobs,” Resch said. “The project allows solar energy companies to gain valuable field results, accelerating deployment of highly promising innovations to the market.”

Resch said testing projects at the Solar Demonstration Zone can reduce large-scale solar system costs, increase their efficiency, enhance storage capacity and improve financing opportunities.

Nevada Nuclear Test Site to Host Solar Demonstration Zone

July 10, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | renewable, USA | antinuclear, climate change, energy efficiency, global warming, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear weapons, renewable energy, renewables, solar