They look like rocket/missile launching support towers.   They are about 4 times as tall as the high tension transmission lines for power.  What are they?  

I don't have any pictures as I was driving and couldn't take any... but they do look like the picture that came out this week from NK for their rocket/missile launch

They look a lot like this

Zip line to LA?  Maybe it's an alternative to the high speed train they were considering for a while.

Solar power plant. Ground reflectors beam solar heat to collector ontop which boils fluid and runs a turbine. I talked to a guy the other day that works there.

Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System. 392 megawatts. And unlike the Amargosa project, which is using 20% of the area's water for cooling, they've gone with a "dry cooling" technique that reduces water consumption around 90%.

It's the only kind of solar that really works. Runs at night, no massive battery banks required. No stupid solar-voltaic panels. No 20-year lifespan. No constantly cleaning dust off panels. Requires a fraction of the land.

The question that comes to my mind is, why are they not using the same working fluid that the local geothermal plant does?

Water is hard to heat and fairly corrosive to plumbing and turbines.

It seems we should be able to use the geothermal type gas, it expands and contracts at lower temperatures.
This would further reduce the need for water to near zero.

I'm happy to see that at least this will not use Chinese solar cells.

At night? How?  Sounds like magic!


ETA: Never mind, googled it. That's pretty neat.