The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System

In California's Mojave Desert, about 40 miles southwest of Las Vegas (Google map), lies a five-square-mile solar thermal power project called the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (SEGS). The $2.2 billion facility consists of three power plants, each with a 40-story tower surrounded by thousands of sun-following mirrors called heliostats. The mirrors focus sunlight onto boilers atop the towers, creating steam, which drives turbines that generate enough electricity to power 140,000 California homes. The facility, owned by NRG Energy, Google and BrightSource Energy formally opened on February 17 and has a capacity of 392 megawatts. Getty Images photographer Ethan Miller made several trips to Ivanpah recently, returning with these great shots of the massive power plant, now up and running.

Read more
Hints: View this page full screen. Skip to the next and previous photo by typing j/k or ←/→.

Most Recent

  • Kyodo / Reuters

    Images of the Destruction Left by Typhoon Jebi in Japan

    Yesterday, the most powerful typhoon to hit Japan in 25 years tore through the western part of the country with heavy rain and violent winds.

  • Leo Correa / AP

    In Photos: The Smoldering Remains of Brazil's National Museum

    Photos from the scene of a fire that burned through the 200-year-old National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, destroying countless artifacts.

  • Ahn Young-joon / AP

    Photos of the Week: Bog Snorkeling, Air Guitar, Canadian Calf

    Competition in the 2018 Asian Games, the new tallest statue in the world under construction in India, memorials for both Aretha Franklin and Senator John McCain, and much more

  • Lukas Bischoff Photograph / Shutterstock

    Photos: Along the Namibian Coast

    Namibia has nearly a thousand miles of coastline, shaped by the winds and largely unpopulated, where the Namib Desert meets the Atlantic Ocean.