Satellite Imagery of Ivanpah Shows Low-Impact Design and Heliostat Progress
Below are two neat satellite images of Ivanpah from GeoEye, a leading source of geospatial information.
The first image is a full project satellite view. This vantage point demonstrates our low-impact design approach of lightly mowing the solar field area and limiting our disturbance to the land as much as possible. The graded areas of the site are limited to the power blocks (location of the tower, steam turbine, air-cooled condenser, etc.), the common areas and the solar field “ring roads” to allow for mirror washing. Additionally, BrightSource’s unique technology has the ability to avoid areas, such as Metamorphic Hill and within the solar fields, we’ve not placed heliostats in several areas that are home to special-status plant species.
The second image is a close up satellite view of Unit 1. Construction workers are making steady progress in heliostat installation and are well over halfway finished with Unit 1. During construction, the heliostats are being kept in the “safe,” horizontal position until it is time to begin testing and focusing sunlight onto the boiler.
We hope to update these satellite images monthly moving forward! Check back soon for new images.