Aerial Vegas: Man-Made Wonders from the Sky

Nevada Solar One Plant

The Nevada Solar One plant lies in the Eldorado Valley, south of the region between Las Vegas and Boulder City. If you’ve ever taken a day trip to Laughlin, you’re sure to have seen this massive solar power plant. After all, it covers 400 acres of prime sun-fed Nevada desert.

Nevada Solar One took sixteen months to construct and went online in June of 2007. Unlike the Ascaya project, which literally blew away fifteen million cubic yards of mountain rock, the Nevada Solar One plant’s 760 parabolic trough concentrators follow the natural terrain of the desert floor.

The silent and somewhat aesthetic complex generates about 136 million kilowatt-hours annually. According to Wikipedia, the number of carbon emissions it reduces by creating clean energy is the equivalent of removing 20,000 automobiles from the road each year.

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