Non-prosecutors 'blind' because solar power plant 'terrible'

The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has received daily complaints from pilots about their "blindness" when flying across the world's largest solar power plant in California, west. this country.

>>>The world's largest solar power plant comes into operation

The Ivanpah solar power plant , the largest in the world, is built on an area of ​​13km2 in the Mojave desert, near the border of the US states of California - Nevada. This system uses 173,500 mirrors over 2m high and about 3m wide, to reflect sunlight to heat boilers placed on the electric tower at a height of 140m.

The mirrors reflecting sunlight were thought to be the culprits that sent pilots flying through the temporarily "blind" Ivanpah factory.(Photo: Getty Images)

Solar energy is used to generate water vapor in boilers and eject turbines to generate electricity. With a huge area, the Ivanpah plant can generate nearly 400 megawatts of clean electricity, enough to supply the needs of 140,000 households. Ivanpah started producing electricity from December 2013.

Since August last year, the FAA has received reports from two pilots who have been blown away by the glare of energy mirrors as they pass through the area . One of the two pilots described it as like looking directly at the blazing sun. He said this was extremely disastrous because the crew could not orient and sweep the sky to avoid colliding with other planes.

The US air traffic control agency has also warned against the dangers of reflections of sunlight, after repeatedly receiving complaints from pilots flying through the Ivanpah facility at the end. morning and early afternoon. Every day, dozens of flights move through this airspace.

The FAA spokesman said the agency was aware of the dangerous glare from solar power plants and was finding the best way to warn pilots. The installation of mirrors in the Ivanpah system was adjusted to minimize the risk of blindness for pilots flying at 1,000 meters.