In addition, the BLM recently named the Ivanpah project as one of six fast-tracked as a priority.

With any development, there are some environmental concerns associated with the project. We are working with these agencies and the environmental community to address these issues.

In terms of our environmental efforts, Ivanpah will avoid more than 13 million tons of CO2 emissions over its 30-year lifecycle, as well as 85 percent of the air emissions from an equally-sized natural gas plant. The plants will employ dry-cooling, which will reduce water usage by 90 percent, allowing Ivanpah to use approximately 30 times less water than competing technologies using wet cooling. The project will use roughly 100 acre feet of water – the equivalent of 300 homes’ annual water usage, and far less than the amount used by the adjacent golf course or nearby casinos. While dry-cooling comes at an additional cost, we believe that this proven technology must be used to help conserve precious desert water.

Ivanpah’s environmental considerations to reduce development impacts also include a low-impact design and use of a currently-used high-voltage transmission pathway that transects the site. The low impact design utilizes BrightSource’s proprietary hanging heliostats, which minimize the need for grading and concrete pads required for competing technologies.