Nevada Solar One is located in the desert outside Las Vegas near Boulder City, Nevada. It is technically known as a Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) generating station and is a utility grade solar thermal facility.

The 64 megawatt commercial scale solar energy plant is 350 acres covered in 182,000 mirrored troughs. These solar collectors track the sun, concentrate light and convert it into thermal energy at 750 degrees Fahrenheit which creates steam for electrical power generation.

More than 18,240 vacuum tube steel and glass receivers perform the task of turning light into heat. The parabolic mirrors focus the sun's energy on these vacuum-insulated recievers and they absorb the solar radiation. A heat transfer fluid circulates through the recievers and transfers heat to a water boiler that operates the 75 megawatt turbine. Except for the solar collectors, the plant is a standard natural gas generating facility.

There are nine similar projects in the Mojave Desert in California. These older Solar Electric Generating Stations (SEGS) in the Mojave Desert are different from Nevada Solar One.

Early plants required a 25% natural gas-fired backup to keep the temperature from changing wildly as the supply of sunlight fluctuated. Nevada Solar One is designed to be more efficient in maintaining temperature and requires only a 2% natural gas backup. In essance Nevada Solar one is a natural gas power plant with solar collectors providing the primary heat source.

Nearly 750 people were involved in construction of the facility and there is a permanent full-time staff of 28.