Kikapu wrote:GW,
Are you talking about the Solar Panel/ Mirrors on Highway 58 between Mojave and Barstow near Edwards Air Force Base by any chance, in Mojave Desert. I have driven by there many of times, and one could see them from the road. I can't remember exactly how big of Solar Farm it is, but I would guess, it is no larger than one square mile. If that can produce enough power to supply 100,000 homes of all their electrical needs, then there's great hope yet.
There is supposed to be about 9 plants in different parts of the Mojarve desert with a total output of 354 MW (peak). So what you have seen is only part of the total. If you have Google Earth installed, you can see some of them in GE by clicking on the link under the heading "CSP plants on Google Earth" in http://www.trec-uk.org.uk/resources.htm .
It is true that the mirrors take up quite a lot of land but it is land that is, typically, not being used for anything else and will normally be very cheap. It has been calculated that, if it was covered with CSP plants, less than 1% of the world's deserts would generate as much electricity as the world currently consumes. The potential is absolutely massive!
