It may look like the sinister vision of a James Bond villain, but the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is anything but.
Out in the scorched wastes of California's Mojave Desert, where gnarled Joshua trees stand as forlorn sentinels, lies the Ivanpah Valley.
It is in this veritable furnace – nearby Death Valley holds the world's hottest temperature record at a perishing 56.7 degrees – that BrightSource Energy have installed three colossal thermal power plants.
The first ground was struck back in 2010 by none other than former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and by the end of this year these incredible light-catching towers will be fully operational by reflecting the sun's light off 173,500 heliostats (sun catching mirrors) onto the towers.
It will create internal steam, driving massive turbines to create 377 megawatts of energy – enough to power 140,000 homes in California.
But the big numbers don't stop there. The Ivanpah Project covers a vast 1600 hectare tract of desert land, while the amount of energy produced will save more than 13.5 million tons of carbon dioxide pollution over 30 years when compared with conventional power generation – enough to take 2.1 million cars off the road.
And in a positive sign, the project is backed by a $1.6 billion loan from the US Department of Energy.
Even former president Bill Clinton is an admirer of the project – an endorsement the green lobby can really hang its hat on.
