Blog | Nellis AFB Solar Farm

Nellis AFB Solar Farm

Not every gallery I shoot for Wired.com makes the cut. Last year during my PMA coverage, I took a short detour to Nellis AFB to take photos of their gigantic solar farm. Until now, the photos were never published.

The solar power farm at Nellis is the largest in North America. Thousands of solar panels glisten in the sun, gathering energy to help run the Air Force Base. It is quite a sight to see.

Clearly our country needs more green energy infrastructure. I predict in the next few years we will see hundreds if not thousands of solar farms like this cropping up all over our nation.

I also think that using nanotechnology, researchers will soon make a solar panel that doubles or triples the efficiency of current photovoltaics. Personally I think this will happen at UCLA's California NanoSystems Institute, about which I have done several stories for Wired.com.

CnSI has brought together the top scientists and researchers from almost every department at UCLA. They are collaborating on nanotechnology in a brand new, super-high-tech facility. Keep your eye on CnSI for a wide array of nanotech breakthroughs in the next few years.

Back to Nellis, here are a few selections from the Nellis AFB Solar Farm shoot:

Solar Panels at Nellis AFB

Snow-covered mountains in the background are framed by an array of photovoltaic panels in this never-before-published shot from the Nellis AFB Solar Farm.

Mitsubishi Melsec FX3U-16M

The brains of the solar tracker control are exposed in this shot from 2008.

Sun Shining Through a Solar Panel

The sun peeks through a solar panel at Nellis AFB.

To see the rest of the Nellis AFB Solar Farm photos click here.

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Friday, January 23rd, 2009 at 11:34:21 AM

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