CUTTING EDGE PV PLANT FOR NV

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid “Flips the Switch” on Amonix Concentrated Photovoltaic Solar Plant at Southern Nevada Water Treatment Facility; 308 kW (DC) CPV Plant Owned and Operated by the Southern Nevada Water Authority
May 15, 2010 (Business Wire)

"U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid… presided over [the opening] ceremony…at the first Concentrated Photovoltaic (CPV) solar energy plant owned and operated by the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) at its River Mountains Water Treatment Facility. Amonix, a leading supplier of CPV solar systems for sunny and dry climates, designed and manufactured the plant…

"…Amonix announced that plans to use $5.9 million of a $9.5 million investment tax credit from the Recovery Act’s Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit awarded in 2010 to establish a new manufacturing facility in Southern Nevada are well underway, and that the facility will be open by the end of 2010. When fully operational, the facility will have an annual production capacity of 150 MW of CPV solar systems and employ 278 people in management, technical and production jobs…"

An Amonix CPV panel with concentrating lenses (insert) (click to enlarge)

"Charged with meeting the Las Vegas region’s growing demand for water with minimal impact on the sensitive desert environment at its River Mountains facility, SNWA partnered with Amonix to install a CPV solar plant capable of producing 308 kW (DC) of clean, renewable power – enough to power 50 medium-sized Las Vegas homes annually. The plant was completed in July 2009 and after a 10-month provisional period is now fully operational and performing as predicted.

"The Amonix system is the company’s third installation in Nevada – first on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, second at the NV Energy Edward W. Clark Generating Station, and today at SNWA’s River Mountains facility…"