[5] It is located in Eldorado Valley in the southwest fringe of Boulder City, Nevada, and was built in that city's Energy Resource Zone, which requires renewable generation as part of plant development permits; Nevada Solar One was approved as part of Duke Energy's larger El Dorado Energy project, which built 1 GW of electrical generation capacity.

In 2006, located 30 miles (48 km) north of Tucson, Arizona Public Service's Saguaro Solar Facility opened, with 1 MW of electrical generation capacity.

Nevada Solar One uses proprietary technology to track the sun's location and concentrate its rays during peak demand hours.

[12] In contrast to the power tower concentrator concept that California's original Solar One project uses.

[14] Motion control was supplied by Parker Hannifin, from components by Ansco Machine Company.

Solar thermal power plants designed for solar-only generation are well matched to summer noon peak loads[dubious – discuss] in areas with significant cooling demands, such as the southwestern United States.