Ivanpah is a field of mirrors, shimmering like a mirage in California's Mojave desert, about 60 kilometers southwest of Las Vegas.Joe Desmond is a senior official at BrightSource Energy, the company that's building the plant."This is actually one of the highest concentrations of sunlight in the world, out here in Ivanpah," explained Desmond.The plant will deploy 170,000 heliostat mirrors to focus solar energy on boilers located on top of three power towers.The steam generated in these boilers will drive turbines to produce energy.Desmond said the steam can reach temperatures of more than 260 degrees Celsius."We can store the sun's thermal energy in the form of molten salt, so we can produce electricity even when the sun goes down.There is a lot of interest in concentrating solar power around the globe in environments where you have lots of sun, such as China, South Africa,the Middle East, North Africa," explained Desmond.Environmentalists generally support the idea of solar plants, but many want habitats like the one where Ivanpah is being built to stay intact."Even though the desert seems big, when you start cutting it up, it can really affect how the species and the animals and the plants are able to survive in the long run,"Lisa Belenky is the senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, a private advocacy group with offices in several U.S. states.She said some environmentalists are worried about the effect of the Google-backed Ivanpah Solar Project on the sensitive plant and animal life in this part of Mojave.
伊万帕是一片镜田，在加州莫哈韦沙漠中像闪闪发光的海市蜃楼，位于洛杉矶西南60公里处。乔・德斯蒙德是建造这片镜田的亮源能源公司高管。“伊万帕实际上是全世界太阳光最密集的地方之一。”这个发电厂将使用17万个日光反射装置镜来将太阳能聚焦在三座发电塔顶上的锅炉里，锅炉里产生的蒸汽将驱动涡轮来制造能源。德斯蒙德说蒸汽的温度能达到260摄氏度以上。“我们将太阳的热能储藏在熔盐里，这样在太阳下山后就可以发电了。全世界很多光照丰富的国家都有兴趣利用太阳能，比如中国、南非、中东和北非。”环保者基本上都支持太阳能电厂，但许多人希望伊万帕所在的栖息地能不受损害。“尽管这片沙漠很广大，但一旦隔离开，就会从长远地影响物种、动物和植物，”Lisa Belenky是生物多样化中心高级律师，这是一家私人宣传团体，在美国几个州都有办公室。Belenky说有的环保者担心这个由谷歌支持的伊万帕太阳能项目对莫哈韦沙漠敏感植物和动物的影响。
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