[00:00.100]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.270]this is the Technology Report.
[00:05.330]The world's largest solar thermal plant
[00:08.790]is set to begin producing power
[00:10.990]in the United States by the end of the year.
[00:15.250]Wind and energy from the sun
[00:17.940]are generally considered clean,
[00:20.040]unlike energy from coal-burning power stations.
[00:24.270]However, environmentalists now worry
[00:28.070]that to much solar power development
[00:31.040]could harm the local environment.
[00:34.510]A California company -- BrightSource Energy
[00:38.810]is building a huge solar power plant
[00:43.030]in the Mojave desert,
[00:45.090]about 60 kilometers southwest of Las Vegas, Nevada.
[00:50.350]The plant is known as the Ivanpah
[00:53.850]Solar Electric Generating System.
[00:57.020]Joe Desmond works for the company.
[01:00.220]"This is actually one of the highest concentrations
[01:03.580]of sunlight in the world,
[01:05.030]out here in Ivanpah," explained Desmond.
[01:06.480]BrightSource Energy will deploy 170,000 specially designed mirrors
[01:13.050]to direct solar energy towards boilers on top of three power towers.
[01:20.120]The steam produced in the boilers
[01:22.830]will drive turbines to make electricity.
[01:26.250]Joe Desmond says the steam can reach temperatures
[01:30.260]of more than 260 degrees Celsius.
[01:34.260]"We can store the sun's thermal energy
[01:36.670]in the form of molten salt,
[01:37.730]so we can produce electricity even when the sun goes down.
[01:40.490]There is a lot of interest in concentrating solar power
[01:43.510]around the globe in environments where you have lots of sun,
[01:45.920]such as China, South Africa, the Middle East,
[01:49.280]North Africa," explained Desmond.
[01:50.080]Environmentalists generally support the idea of solar power,
[01:55.130]however, many are concerned about the effect of power plants
[01:59.890]on sensitive environment.
[02:02.090]Lisa Belenky is a lawyer with the Center for Biological Diversity,
[02:08.510]a private group.
[02:10.470]She says environmentalists are specifically worried
[02:15.420]about the effect of the Ivanpah Solar Project
[02:19.180]on the sensitive plant and animal life in that part of Mojave desert.
[02:25.080]"Even though the desert seems big,
[02:27.030]when you start cutting it up,
[02:29.050]it can really affect how the species and the animals
[02:32.750]and the plants are able to survive in the long run," said Lisa Belenky.
[02:35.550]BrightSource Energy has already spent more than $50 million
[02:41.060]to move endangered desert tortoises away from the power plant,
[02:46.370]but Lisa Belenky says this is not the answer.
[02:50.370]"We should be reusing areas that have already been disturbed,
[02:53.680][like] old mining sites, for example...
[02:56.340]either on homes, on businesses, parking lots," said Belenky.
[03:00.290]There have also been reports of birds dying
[03:03.600]at the Ivanpah Plant and others like it.
[03:07.210]Some birds die after colliding with solar equipment
[03:10.920]which the animals mistake for water.
[03:13.660]Other birds were killed or suffered burns
[03:17.960]after flying through the intense heat at the solar thermal plant.
[03:22.620]As solar projects increase, environmentalists and developers
[03:27.930]are considering what to do to reduce bird death.
[03:32.690]And that is the Technology Report from VOA Learning English.