In early September, federal, state and local leaders joined executives from NextEra Energy Resources LLC (one of the largest wholesale generators of electric power in the USA), Edison International company Southern California Edison (SCE) of Rosemead, CA, USA and cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film photovoltaic module maker First Solar Inc of Tempe, AZ, USA to break ground on the 250MW Silver State South Solar Project being constructed in Primm, NV, on the California/Nevada border 40 miles south of Las Vegas. The project is strategically located near a major transmission hub and is adjacent to an existing power plant and transmission line corridor.
First Solar is building Silver State South, which will provide 300 construction jobs. As the firm’s fifth utility-scale solar power plant in development, construction or operation in southern Nevada, it also positions First Solar as the largest solar developer in the state, with about 750MW of projects in various stages of development, construction and operation.
A subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources will own and operate the project. All of the power output will be provided to Southern California Edison under a long-term contract.
When fully operational by early 2016, the project is expected to generate enough energy to serve the needs of about 80,000 homes, displacing about 150,000 metric tons of CO2 annually(equivalent to taking nearly 30,000 cars off the road).
