It consisted of nine solar power plants in California's Mojave Desert, where insolation is among the best available in the United States.

[4] NextEra Energy Resources operates and partially owns the plants located at Kramer Junction.

On January 26, 2018, the SEGS VIII and IX at Harper Lake were sold to renewable energy company Terra-Gen, LLC.

[9] The installation uses parabolic trough, solar thermal technology along with natural gas to generate electricity.

The sunlight bounces off the mirrors and is directed to a central tube filled with synthetic oil, which heats to over 400 °C (750 °F).

The synthetic oil transfers its heat to water, which boils and drives the Rankine cycle steam turbine,[11] thereby generating electricity.

The SEGS power plants were built by Luz Industries,[11][12] and commissioned between December 20, 1984 and October 1, 1990.

This location (35°00′48″N 117°33′38″W / 35.013218°N 117.560531°W / 35.013218; -117.560531 (SEGS III–VII)) receives an average of 340 days of sunshine per year, which makes it an ideal place for solar power generation.

[31] SEGS II was shut down in 2014 and was replaced by Sunray 3 (EIA plant code 10438), a 13,8 MW photovoltaic system.

SEGS I was shut down one year later and replaced by 20 MW PV system Sunray 2 (EIA plant code 10437).

In February 1999, a 900,000-US-gallon (3,400 m3) mineral oil storage tank exploded at the SEGS I (Daggett) solar power plant, sending flames and smoke into the sky.