determined. The heliostats are designed by McDonnell Douglas and consist of two rectangular reflectors (each approx. 6.5 x 3 M) spaced 0.7 M apart. The heliostats rotate on both vertical and horizontal axes. When vertical the lower edge of the heliostats will be 0.7 M off of the ground. There will be 1760 heliostats on the site. A 100 MWe central receiver collector system is planned to be started in the next decade. This system may be composed of two 50 MWe power towers but the general design will probably be very similar to the Barstow 10 MWe STPS. Basic differences will be the same as the differences between the Albuquerque 5MW STPS and the 10 MWe STPS. The area will be considerably larger creating a very large altered habitat that has a greater potential of becoming ecologically stable than some of the smaller sites. The larger site size will also require a greater variation in packing factors of the heliostats as they will be located farther from the central receiving tower. Because of the size of the location selected, the terrain will probably be less disturbed as a result of construction and operation but this is difficult to predict. Photovoltaic solar dispersed power systems will probably also begin to be constructed in the next decade. These will initially start out as small units such as the 500 kWe system planned for the Phoenix, Arizona airport. The area disturbed is small and because of the location the ecological impact of this particular system is not worthwhile evaluating. However, larger systems will be planned and ecological consequences will then be worth considering. The photovoltaic panels may well look like those described by Johnston (1977). The panel is 3 x 5 M with 135 plastic Fresnel lenses concentrating the sunlight on small photovoltaic cells. Peak electric output is about 1 kW per panel. The panel can adjust slightly both vertically and horizontally to track the sun. It does not have a horizontal stow position. In time, both solar thermal central receiver collector systems and photovoltaic systems may cover hundreds or thousands of hectares. These extensive systems will not only have major ecological impacts within the array of collectors but perhaps more importantly will have a significant environmental consequence on the surrounding region. Although the microhabitat changes may be predictable at the time of construction of the very large
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