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The future is bright: World's biggest solar farm is switched on today...
The Daily Mail Online ^ | February 13, 2014 | Daily Mail Reporter

Posted on 02/13/2014 11:39:17 AM PST by Uncle Chip

The world's largest solar plant of its kind, set to produce 400 megawatts of energy for homes in southwest U.S. has been switched on today.

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, which covers five square miles of the Mojave Desert near the California-Nevada border, has formally opened after years of regulatory and legal tangles ranging from relocating protected tortoises to assessing the impact on Mojave milkweed and other plants.

The $2.2billion complex sees more than 300,000 gigantic mirrors reflect green solar power to three generating units with boilers placed on towers rising 460ft above the desert.

Ivanpah, a joint project uniting NRG Energy Inc., Google Inc. and BrightSource Energy, can produce enough electricity to power 140,000 homes.

Larger projects are on the way, but for now, Ivanpah is being described as a marker for the United States' emerging solar industry.....

Ivanpah can be seen as a success story and a cautionary tale, highlighting the inevitable trade-offs between the need for cleaner power and the loss of fragile, open land. The California Energy Commission concluded that while the solar plant would impose 'significant impacts on the environment ... the benefits the project would provide override those impacts.'

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: brightsource; google; ivanpah; solarenergy
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In other news:

SOLAR PANELS ARE FRYING BIRDS ALONG MAJOR MIGRATION PATH

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/11/12/Oops-Solar-Energy-Plants-are-Killing-Rare-birds

1 posted on 02/13/2014 11:39:17 AM PST by Uncle Chip
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To: Uncle Chip

Brightsource.. One of the Kennedys is knee deep in this venture. No wonder Teddy fought the wind farm off the cape, to many dead seagull carcasses washing ashore at the estate. Acorn, tree, nut, job.


2 posted on 02/13/2014 11:42:51 AM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: Uncle Chip

140,000 homes

And 2.2 billion would power those homes for how long?


3 posted on 02/13/2014 11:43:07 AM PST by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: Uncle Chip

Giant bird zappers, courtesy of the Green movement.


4 posted on 02/13/2014 11:43:23 AM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: tet68
And 2.2 billion would power those homes for how long?

until the sun goes down.

5 posted on 02/13/2014 11:44:54 AM PST by Uncle Chip
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To: Uncle Chip

$2.2 billion invested in nuke power plant powers how many homes 24hrs/365 days?


6 posted on 02/13/2014 11:45:08 AM PST by 9422WMR (: " Tolerance is the virtue of a man who has no convictions".)
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To: Uncle Chip

I drove by it yesterday. It lies between Stateline, Nev. and Mountain Pass, Calif.


7 posted on 02/13/2014 11:46:05 AM PST by Fiji Hill
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To: NormsRevenge

Hey, Kentucky Fried Chicken could capitalize on this by setting up nets. Electrifried Chicken. No oil needed, 40% less calories.


8 posted on 02/13/2014 11:47:15 AM PST by spawn44 (MOO)
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To: tet68

That’s at maximum output of the units installed.

Big Blow throws out numbers like that, leaving out the part where they only average about 12% of intalled capacity


9 posted on 02/13/2014 11:47:28 AM PST by digger48
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To: 9422WMR

another solyndra about to hit the fan...


10 posted on 02/13/2014 11:47:56 AM PST by MeshugeMikey ("When you meet the unbelievers, strike at their necks..." -- Qur'an 47:4)
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To: Uncle Chip; All
Now that they have that farm build, I wonder if they may eventually regret not employing possibly new technology.
FR: Giant glass orb could replace the solar panel

11 posted on 02/13/2014 11:48:13 AM PST by Amendment10
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To: tet68

Somewhere around 1,000 years.


12 posted on 02/13/2014 11:48:51 AM PST by spawn44 (MOO)
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To: spawn44

They should call it KENNEDY Fried Chicken. Boot licking’ good.


13 posted on 02/13/2014 11:48:55 AM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: Fiji Hill

You couldn’t have picked a better location — but look at how many acres that takes up and 300,000 garage sized mirrors.

What can go wrong???


14 posted on 02/13/2014 11:50:19 AM PST by Uncle Chip
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To: Uncle Chip

It is the world’s largest Eagle Oven.


15 posted on 02/13/2014 11:51:48 AM PST by P-Marlowe (There can be no Victory without a fight and no battle without wounds)
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To: Uncle Chip

How many US Tax Payer dollars are invested in this project?

I don’t see how NRG Energy Inc., Google Inc. and BrightSource Energy could be funding this entire project.

Don’t you think their money could have been better in vested in a coal or nuclear plant?


16 posted on 02/13/2014 11:52:51 AM PST by Oliviaforever
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To: P-Marlowe

I’ll bet they will have a full time crew scouring the grounds daily for aviary accidents, burnt birds, and condor crashes digging a lot of holes out there.


17 posted on 02/13/2014 11:55:33 AM PST by Uncle Chip
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To: Uncle Chip

Everything you can imagine and more could go wrong.

From killing birds to crashing jumbo jets flying across America.

Don’t see why they don’t build nuclear, coal or gas power generating plants that would have almost no risk to the environment nor cause a disaster.


18 posted on 02/13/2014 11:56:07 AM PST by Oliviaforever
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To: Uncle Chip

They are surprised that their brainchild roasts birds. I could have told them that. Obviously they knew about it, and went ahead with the project anyway.


19 posted on 02/13/2014 11:56:50 AM PST by I want the USA back (Media: completely irresponsible traitors. Complicit in the destruction of our country.)
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To: Uncle Chip

Straight out of the movie Sahara.


20 posted on 02/13/2014 11:57:24 AM PST by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency)
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