From: Nuclear Power as a Basis for Future Electricity Generation Date of download: 11/12/2017 Copyright © ASME. All rights reserved. From: Nuclear Power as a Basis for Future Electricity Generation ASME J of Nuclear Rad Sci. 2015;1(1):011001-011001-19. doi:10.1115/1.4029420 Figure Legend: Aerial view showing portions of Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGSs) (California, U.S.) (photograph by A. Radecki, distributed under a CCBY 2.0 license). SEGS is the largest solar energy power plant in the world. SEGSs consist of nine concentrated-solar-thermal plants with 354  MWel installed capacity. The average gross solar output of SEGS is about 75  MWel (capacity factor is ∼21%). At night, turbines can be powered by combustion of natural gas. NextEra claims that the SEGSs power 232,500 homes and decrease pollution by 3,800  tons/year (if the electricity had been provided by combustion of oil). The SEGSs have 936,384 mirrors, which cover more than 6.5  km2. If the parabolic mirrors would be lined up, they will extend over 370 km. In 2002, one of the 30-MWel Kramer Junction sites required 90 million dollars to construct, and its O&M costs are about 3 million dollars per year, which are 4.6  ¢/kW h. However, with a considered lifetime of 20 years, the O&M and investments interest and depreciation triple the price to approximately 14  ¢/kW·h (Source: Wikipedia) (see annual average direct normal solar-resource-data distribution over the U.S. in Fig. 10)