Just drove by Solana power plant (350 megawatts) as we exited the Gila Bend area. 1400 acres of solar arrays are indeed impressive.
"The three projects under way near Gila Bend now reveal the variety of solar-power technologies being commercialized in large power plants, and also the harsh working environment for those building them.
West of town, 3 square miles of land are being cleared for Solana. Abengoa Solar of Spain is using a variety of contractors, including Kitchell Corp., Sundt Construction and R.E. Monks Construction Co.
Soon, large, curved mirrors resembling oversize livestock water troughs will begin arriving on the site from a factory in Surprise, with other equipment coming from New Mexico.
So far, only the hardware that will hold the mirrors has been placed in the ground.
That hardware gets so hot in the sun that workers use lights and conduct much of the labor after dark.
Solana's mirrors will concentrate sunlight on tubes filled with oil, and the hot oil will be used to make steam, spinning a turbine and generating electricity much like natural-gas or coal-fired power plants.
Large tanks of salt will store heat after dark, letting the plant generate electricity in the early evening, when it is in highest demand in the Phoenix area. That gives the plant a significant advantage over traditional solar panels that don't make electricity without direct sunlight.
The same intense sunlight that makes Gila Bend ideal for solar-power plants also makes the work building them intense. On a recent day when temperatures approached 110 degrees outside, workers gathered under a shade for a quick break at the Cotton Center Solar Plant on the eastern side of town... "
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