Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 3:53:43 PM - by Nate Lew

BrightSource Energy has announced an expanded land deal that will see more homes than ever getting their electricity from solar energy.

According to the company, it recently expanded its deal with Coyote Springs Land Company in Nevada for enough land to generate up to 960 megawatts of solar thermal power. The previous agreement between the two companies was sufficient for 600 megawatts to be generated.

BrightSource noted that the deal applies to 12 square miles of land located within a larger development area in Lincon County, Nevada.

With solar thermal, a large number of mirrors concentrate sunlight onto a tower containing liquid that is then superheated and use to power a turbine, generating electricity in the process.

The site is said to be already located near transmission lines and that development of a solar thermal plant on the land has already received necessary permits from various federal agencies as well as other government entities.

The company expects the solar energy from the facility to largely meet demand in Southern Nevada and also potentially to California.