Copper Mountain Solar 3, Nevada

Construction started on this 250 megawatt photovoltaic power plant in 2013, and was completed in 2015. It is located in the El Dorado Valley, South of Las Vegas, near some other major solar plants. It was built by AMEC and Sempra Energy, at a cost around $1.5 billion. Also in the valley are Copper Mountain Solar 1 and 2, which have a capacity of 58 and 92 megawatts respectively, as well as Nevada Solar One, a 64-megawatt solar thermal plant, using parabolic trough concentrators to heat a circulating oil to make steam, that has been operating since 2007. Techren has also developed a large solar plant on the edge of the dry lake bed too. There are also three important electrical substations in the valley, Edison’s El Dorado facility, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s McCullough and Marketplace substations. There is also a 450 megawatt gas powered electrical plant the Desert Star Energy Center.