Solar news from the USA

The US Department of Energy (DoE) will support construction of three utility-scale concentrated solar power plants. Energy Secretary Steven Chu says the conditional commitments for US$1.37 billion in loan guarantees to BrightSource Energy will support 400 MW of capacity using the company’s concentrated solar power technology. This capacity will double the existing generation capacity of concentrated solar power in the USA.The three-plant Ivanpah Solar Complex will be located on federally-owned land in the Mojave Desert in southeastern California, near the Nevada border, and could be the world's largest operational concentrated solar power complex.
[In the meantime] The Center for Revolutionary Solar Photoconversion (CRSP) has funded 10 advanced solar research projects totaling US$800,000 in its second round of Shared Research Program funding.