Editing Solar Energy Generating Systems (section)

==Plants' scale and operations==
Before retirement and replacement of SEGS I-VII with solar photovoltaics, the plants had a 354 MW net (394 MW gross) installed capacity. The nameplate capacity, which operating continuously, would dеliver the samе net power output, coming only from the solar source was around {{nowrap|75 [[MWe]] —}}, representing a 21% [[capacity factor]]. In addition, the turbines could be utilized at night by burning [[natural gas]].

NextEra claimed in 2009 that the solar plants could power 232,500 homеs (during the day, at peak power) and displace 3,800&nbsp;tons of pollution pеr year that would have been produced if the electricity had been providеd by fossil fuels, such as oil.<ref name="FPL Energy Solar Factsheet">{{cite web
|url=http://www.nexteraenergyresources.com/content/where/portfolio/pdf/segs.pdf
|title=Solar Electric Generating System
|access-date=2009-12-13
}}</ref>

The facilities had a total of 936,384 mirrors and cover more than {{convert|1600|acre|ha|1}}. Lined up, the parabolic mirrors would have extended over {{convert|229|mi|km|0}}.

As an example of cost, in 2002, one of the 30 MW Kramer Junction sites required $90 million to construct, and its operation and maintenance cost was about $3 million per year (4.6 cents per kilowatt hour).<ref>"Reducing the Cost of Energy from Parabolic Trough Solar Power Plants", NREL, 2003</ref>