The Copper Mountain Solar Facility is a 802

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...

(MW_AC) solar

photovoltaic power plant A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building ...

Boulder City Boulder City is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States. It is approximately southeast of Las Vegas. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population of Boulder City was 14,885. The city took its name from Boulder Canyon ( ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The plant was developed by Sempra Generation. When the first unit of the facility entered service on December 1, 2010, it was the largest photovoltaic plant in the U.S. at 58 MW. With the opening of Copper Mountain V in March 2021, it again became the largest in the United States. It is co-located with the 64 MW

Nevada Solar One Nevada Solar One is a concentrated solar power plant, with a nominal capacity of 64 Watt, MW and maximum steam turbine power output up to 72 MW net (75 MW gross), spread over an area of . The projected Carbon dioxide, CO2 emissions ...

, 150 MW Boulder Solar, and 300 MW Techren Solar projects in the Eldorado Valley, thus forming a more than 1

gigawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wat ...

(GW) solar generating complex. By comparison, generating capacity at the nearby Hoover Dam is about 2 GW.

History

First unit

Sempra Generation completed the 10 MW demonstration plant named " El Dorado Solar" near the existing El Dorado natural gas-fired power station and the

concentrated solar power plant in December 2008. It was the company's first bold venture into utility-scale solar generation. A 48 MW second phase named "Copper Mountain" was constructed from January to December 2010 at a cost of about $141 million. At its construction peak more than 350 workers were installing the 775,000

First Solar First Solar, Inc. is an American manufacturer of solar panels, and a provider of utility-scale PV power plants and supporting services that include finance, construction, maintenance and end-of-life panel recycling. First Solar uses rigid thi ...

panels on the site. America's Largest PV Power Plant Is Now Live
(December 6, 2010), ''Renewable Energy World''.

Second unit

Based on its successes with the first unit, a second 150 MW unit was approved adjacent to the site in late 2010 and a construction plan announced On August 4, 2011. The first 92 MW phase came online in January 2013, and the 58 MW expansion phase was eventually completed in early 2015.

Third unit

Construction on the third, and thus far largest, 250 MW unit began in 2013 and was completed in early 2015, with a formal dedication ceremony on 30 April 2015. This unit is located about north of the prior grouping, and is capable of generating enough electricity to power about 80,000 homes.

Fourth unit

Copper Mountain Solar 4 is the fourth unit of the Copper Mountain Solar complex. Construction on the 94 MW unit, adjacent to the grouping of Units 1 and 2, commenced in 2015. It also sustained about 350 construction jobs at peak, and completed year-end 2016. In contrast to prior units, the rows of panels run north to south, with solar trackers tilting the rows from east to west in order to maximize energy production.

Fifth unit

The 250 MW Copper Mountain 5 unit went online in March 2021.Commission Approves Largest Clean Energy Investment in Nevada History
T&D World, January 08, 2019

Facility unit details

Electricity production

References

{{Solar power in the United States Solar power in the Mojave Desert Buildings and structures in Boulder City, Nevada Solar power stations in Nevada Photovoltaic power stations in the United States Energy infrastructure completed in 2010