El Dorado

I was recently assigned to a project to put in a new plant maintenance system at the El Dorado Solar Power Plant in Nevada (40 miles south of Las Vegas).  I forgot the year, but at one point in time, this plant was co-owned by SDG&E (San Diego Gas & Electric - where I work) and Reliant Energy (from Houston!). 

Earlier this week, I spent a day with the planners and operators to test the new system.  

It was interesting to see how others do their job.  This guy is a planner who schedules maintenance jobs.  He was one of the guys we tested with.

I couldn't get a good shot of the solar panels....so here's a picture from the web (not my picture) to give you an idea of how many solar panels were at this plant.  As you can see, I was in the middle of the desert (115 degrees that day!)

Glimpse of the Vegas strip from my dirty airplane window: