Josef Eichhammer, chief executive officer of Solar Millenium, thinks the current push for renewable energy in Congress will make it possible for his company to break ground on a 250-megawatt solar power plant in Amargosa Valley in 2010.

Solar Millenium is one of the companies seen as a frontrunner among many who have applied for public rights-of-way to build solar generating facilities on public land along Highway 95 from Lathrop Wells to Beatty.

With joint venture partner MAN Ferrostaal Inc., Solar Millenium last week announced a memorandum of understanding had been signed with NV Energy, the first such agreement between a solar energy company and the giant utility.

A 250-megawatt solar power plant is enough to supply power to roughly 180,000 homes. By comparison, the Nevada Solar One plant near Boulder City generates only 64 megawatts.

Nevada Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa Valley, who said he spent over 1,000 hours trying to bring major solar power players to Amargosa Valley, said, "this will be the largest concentrated solar power plant with thermal storage on the planet. I think it's a great opportunity to expand and diversify southern Nye County's economic base. It's going to provide a lot of jobs."

Eichhammer said, "We have at least 1,000 people on a construction site for a two- to three-year period, and then we have permanent jobs of at least 100 and then another 200 to 300 in the manufacturing of the equipment. So there is a lot of job creation with the project."

But first the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has to perform an environmental impact statement on projects planned on public land, and that could take up to two years.

"I think there's a lot of interest in Washington and in the state to create jobs," Eichhammer continued, "and along with the economic stimulus bill there are some measures which would be beneficial if we could start work in 2010. So, therefore, we want to secure permitting as fast as possible in order to fall within the terms of this economic stimulus bill."

The project could showcase Amargosa Valley and Nevada as being an ideal site for renewable energy, Eichhammer said.

"It would certainly make sense because in the valley we have some of the best (solar) radiation in the southwest and there is ample land there unoccupied in proximity to Las Vegas where the load center is. So it would definitely make sense to see a couple of projects like this in the valley and possibly also for exporting," he said.

Possible storage capacity could be used to help meet the peak hours of demand in Las Vegas, with its galaxy of neon lights illuminating the sky at night.

Solar Millenium prefers a wet cooling system for the turbines instead of a dry cooling system, which Eichhammer said would have higher costs and less efficiency.

"But as there are water rights available, this would be our first choice to go with wet cooling," Eichhammer said.

Goedhart said there's already 20,000 acre feet of permitted water rights in Amargosa Valley that are in good standing with the state engineer's office.

"I'm sure he won't have too big of a problem leasing water from people who have been farming out there," Goedhart said.

Eichhammer said his company could use either NV Energy or Valley Electric Association transmission lines for wheeling the power.

Pahrump BLM Field Office Manager Patrick Putnam, said Solar Millenium already paid a bill to the BLM for cost recovery for all the BLM studies. The company is one of a handful that have already submitted a plan of development for consideration to the BLM, the next step in the permitting process, after which a notice of intent to conduct an EIS would be published in the Federal Register, he said. No companies have advanced yet toward the start of an EIS, Putnam said.

"If all the stars were aligned and everything went as planned and all that kind of stuff, it could possibly get through the process in 2010, but we really can't say that's necessarily going to happen," Putnam said.

Greg Helseth, who is in charge of renewable energy projects for the BLM Pahrump Field Office, said Solar Millenium is definitely one of the companies in the forefront.

"There's a few more that are also up with the state that are definitely front runners," Helseth said.

Ausra NV, another company seen as being in the forefront of solar power production in Nevada, applied in November for permission to change the point of diversion, place and manner of use of 0.4933 cubic feet per second of water rights 12 miles southwest of the intersection of Highway 95 and Highway 373 for industrial cooling at a solar energy park. The water was used for mining and milling purposes.

No protests were filed over the request, according to the Nevada Division of Water Resources. One cubic foot per second equals about 7.4 gallons, which would translate to 639,360 gallons per day.

Ausra NV opened a 130,000-square-foot solar product manufacturing plant in Las Vegas last June. The company also has a contract with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to build a 180-megawatt, solar-powered plant between Bakersfield and San Luis Obispo, Calif.

But the Las Vegas Sun reported last month Ausra NV is more interested now in focusing on manufacturing solar thermal components than on developing solar power plants due to the lack of financing and permitting delays.

Ausra Chief Executive Officer Bob Fishman, in a prepared release dated Feb. 4, said Ausra NV can quickly ramp up and install low-cost projects as early as 2009 or 2010, while large power projects can take three to four years.