Posted on 09/24/2025 12:56:42 PM PDT by Red Badger
The partially taxpayer-funded Ivanpah Solar Power Facility in California’s Mojave Desert is set to shut down in 2026 due to inefficiency in generating solar energy, according to the New York Post.
The $2.2 billion plant, which features three 459-foot towers, was greenlit in 2010 and completed in 2014. According to the New York Post the closure stems from the site being “outpaced by solar photovoltaic technology” and proving both inefficient and costly. The shutter of the site comes more than a decade ahead of its original 2039 end date, according to the Associated Press.
Speculation about Ivanpah’s early closure began in January, when Pacific Gas & Electric announced an agreement with the plant’s owners to terminate its contracts.
“Ivanpah Solar was built when developers were investing in many different types of clean energy. The goal was to find efficient and affordable technologies to reduce the need for greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels,” PG&E wrote in a January press statement.
“The technology had worked on a smaller scale in Europe. Spain had several concentrating solar projects of up to 20 megawatts. In the 2000s and 2010s, various private companies invested in large-scale concentrating solar power in the United States. But over time, solar photovoltaic technology raced ahead of its rival in affordability,” the press statement continued.
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Green energy works like this:
Gov pays for science showing need for green widget.
Gov subsidizes green widget.
Gov connected gets subsidy to make green widget
Gov connected uses subsidy to contribute to pols and pay himself handsomely.
Gov subsidy runs out
Green widget fails to deliver, company bankrupts.
Gov and connected move to next subsidy scam, taxpayers eat the loss.
That's the energy costs I'm avoiding each month in gasoline + natural gas + most of my power not having to be bought (though excluding some overlap, as I consume more power by not needing natural gas anymore and charging the EV). But subtracted from that savings is the loan payment I make on the HELOC I took out to add solar, do other energy improvements to the home, make payments on the EV with 4-year car payments (started that 3 years ago) with it's related costs, plus minutia related costs (i.e. higher insurance premium for having a more expensive car) ... minus the energy costs I'm avoiding (gasoline + natural gas + higher power bills). All of which I calculate every month when I get a power bill. Even with that working against it, my budget has saved more than the energy project cost me. (A total of $8,700 since spring of 2021.)
Assuming a 3% inflation rate on energy costs, minus a 1% degradation rate on my solar equipment --- I'll hit the break-even point in year 2031. That's when my total cash flow savings will equal what's left in the HELOC balance. My first solar panels and inverter and batteries will be 10 years old. (Played with a small system for a year to test it out before adding to it in year 2022. Thus, most of my solar equipment + the EV will be 9 years old.) So even if it all quit working in 2031 or later it will have paid for itself. (More than paid for itself, actually, since I add pessimism by not including the investment growth from the cash flow savings, which in the end means that that amount is staying in our Roth IRAs growing tax free.)
Or put another way: the energy and transportation portion of my budget feels like it's still year 2019 (last year of Trump before covid distorted energy prices). Being more energy self-reliant helped me avoid the Biden inflation on energy. What I was paying each month on average in 2019 in power bill + natural gas bill + gasoline + $400 to car savings account for repairs/replacing a car, is what I've been paying since I went solar in tiny power bill + HELOC payment. I pull from the HELOC to help make the car payment (minus the $400 car savings amount I was used to "paying" anyway). And each year for 3 years when I got the EV tax credit and/or solar tax credit I used that to pay the HELOC balance back down. (I hated the tax credits because I hate govt intervening in the market, and all they did was artificially inflate my upfront prices I paid anyway like everything else the govt "helps" us with. But I don't make the rules, I just use them to my advantage.) When the EV is paid off next year, my regular budget amount for energy and transportation will be faster at paying down the HELOC (paying extra on principle).
How much did the entire system COST you installed?
Meaning IF it cost $25K-35K you could have invested that money in stocks, Money markets, etc. Making 7%, your money doubles every seven years.
This May I bought 15 used panels. 370w. Put them in place of the 13 year old panels. Net an additional 16 kw’s a day.
Cost $1150. Giving me about $2 a day, $60 ish a month.
Do you pay income taxes on the government subsidies?
I was shocked when I had to do so.
Do you pay income taxes on the government subsidies?
I was shocked when I had to do so.
These projects tend to be very inefficient ways to transfer taxpayer money to politically connected people.
They are so inefficient at stealing the money. They only get a return of less than 1%!
They seem eager to waste a hundred dollars if they can pocket a dime!
And you trust a warranty from a company that won’t be around in 25 years?
As I understand zero solar companies have lasted that long.
You are 100% correct. And I have enough invested to retire soon (maybe in a couple of years at the age of 57, with my wife having already retired at the age of 55). I’m currently in a quasi-retired phase.
Part of my retirement financial planning is to also control my expenses. Unfortunately the Democrats push their Warmageddon doomsday cult stuff to justify raising energy costs beyond our control. At least, that is, we can’t control the cost of energy we have to buy from their over regulated energy market. So the solar/EV/extra insulation in the house/efficient appliances project is all about keeping part of our retirement expenses in check by keeping the costs away from bureaucrats.
As far as how much it’s costing me out of pocket, see the details in post #22 how I used the loan to pay for it all and I’m making a loan payment plus small power bill instead of paying a large power bill plus large natural gas bill plus lots of gasoline cost. I guess I could have used the loan money to instead add to our investments. But I’ve never been a fan of investing on margin (meaning investing with a loan in investing-speak, but I’ve invested with margin in my budget a lot).
I respectfully disagree. I believe the math works out to having to earn 10% annually to double every 7.5 years. But your point is valid that investing is better in a diversified portfolio (I’m in 3 dozen growth mutual funds, plus a dozen “safer” bond/treasury/money market funds) gives a higher return than in investing in a solar system.
Or it’ll be associated with Archimedes.
I remember back when that overpriced, over-rated mess started up. I think it had it’s share of problems during, before, &after production as I recall. Another one down the tubes.
Yes, I too would be interested in how this is going to happen,who pays,etc.
Those are mirrors.... Einstein
lol
Its been noted that this plant was built on an airline flight path that virtually all of the planes leaving Los Angeles to fly to most of the country use...so lots of contrails. Evidently they didn’t conduct their feasibility studies at that spot, but rather some other spot not nearly as affected.
The original design was called Solar 1. It was in Daggett, East of Barstow. It went online in 1982, and used water and suoerheated steam, at 950°.
This plant used molten salt as the energy storage medium.
I know people who predicted it wouldn’t work, the problem with building these in the desert is the sand and the wind, a thin layer and sand dust and covers up your panels and it will greatly reduce efficiency, so unless you can clean it constantly it doesn’t work. You would need a sprinkler system that periodically cleans the panels, of course the cost of doing that, including transporting the water, would make the entire enterprise cost prohibitive.
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