太陽能發電是內化達州最具優勢的經濟發展項目

拉斯維加斯除了其得天獨厚的氣候條件和地理位置被投資者看好之外，它的就業和商業的發展也是投資人所關心的話題。

太陽能發電是內化達州最具優勢的經濟發展項目，不論從經濟效益和居住環境方面都會給內州帶來巨大好處。據報導，近期距離拉斯維加斯四十分鐘車程的Primm正在建造一座太陽能發電廠，數百名建造工人被雇用，項目的發展商說，他們還將要在內州建造一個更大的太陽能發電站。

目前，內華達州的建築公司正在幫助建造發電廠的一座456英尺高的塔。經營這家發電廠的公司Brightsource Energy發言人說，工程完成后，將會為十四萬個家庭提供電力，但是所有的電力將會提供給加州的居民，應為加州的電力部門在支付所有的項目費用。Brightsource說，他們將會在拉斯維加斯東北部，再建造一座太陽能發電站，供應拉斯維加斯的居民。

此項工程預計將要雇用1400個建築工人，預計2013年完工，一旦完成，將成為世界上最大的太陽能發電廠。 收集太陽板上反射光的鐵塔將和拉斯維加斯巴黎鐵塔一般高。太陽光收集塔中的水將會被加熱來驅動塔內的發動機來發電。內華達州目前是美國為數不多的沒有核能源發電廠的州，太陽能發電廠的建立將會使內州成為真正清潔能源的典範。

IVANPAH, Nev. -- Hundreds of Nevada construction jobs are being created with a new solar power plant near Primm. The plant is just across the state line in California, but the company that is building it says it has big plans for Nevada.

A crane is now helping to build a 450 foot tall tower that's part of a new solar plant. Nevada subcontractors, from paving to ironworkers, are crossing state lines to build the project.

Brightsource Energy will run the new solar plant. It will power 140,000 homes. All of the energy will go to California, since their utility companies are the ones paying the transmission contracts. But Brightsource says they're waiting to build a similar power plant just northeast of Las Vegas that would power Nevada homes.

At it's peak, 1,400 construction workers will be on site. The majority of the construction workers are commuting from the high desert of California. But Bechtel Construction says Nevadans can get work here.

"If I was in the Las Vegas area looking for employment, I would try to identify employers that are supporting our site from Las Vegas, contact those companies -- Las Vegas Paving, Aggregate Industries, some other companies out of the Nevada area that support us. If they're a craft worker, they should be in contact with the dispatching organizations of the unions out of San Bernardino and make sure that they know they're on the out of work list out there," said Bob Regalado with Bechtel Construction.

Once complete in 2013, the solar plant will be the largest of its kind in the world. Solar dishes will reflect light to a tower that's almost as high as the Paris Las Vegas Eiffel Tower. Water inside that tower will get hot enough to power an turbine that generates electricity.

Brightsource hopes to highlight the California and Nevada solar energy plans at Tuesday's Clean Energy Summit at the Aria with Vice President Joe Biden.