Local company designs hybrid solar power plant

Inland Energy, a Newport Beach developer, has designed a hybrid power plant that officials said would be the first to combine natural gas with solar power when it opens in 2010.

The company, which started in Newport Beach 26 years ago, has worked with the city of Victorville for three years to develop the plant design. President Buck Johns said the 570-megawatt plant would capture the sun’s energy on 250 acres of mirrored panels and combine the solar energy with steam from jet turbines.

“This will be the cleanest fossil-fuel power plant in the nation,” Johns said.

The project, overseen by the city, is expected to cost $700 million and cover about 300 acres of land. Victorville City Council members held a contract-signing ceremony with General Electric Tuesday to commence work on the project.

— Michael Miller