Posted on 02/13/2014 7:54:04 PM PST by ckilmer
A massive solar plant in the Mojave Desert officially began operation today after years of construction, testing, and development. Co-owned by NRG Energy, BrightSource Energy, and Google, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is said to be ready to generate nearly 30 percent of all solar thermal energy produced in the United States. The plant consists of three 459-foot tall towers each with tens of thousands of robotic, garage-door sized mirrors that angle sunlight toward a water boiler sitting atop them.
NRG says that the nearly 5.5-square-mile plant is the largest solar project of its type in the world, and that it will be able to provide clean energy to 140,000 neighboring California homes. But though its owners see Ivanpah as a beacon for clean energy sources, the plant has not been without its controversies. The Wall Street Journal reports that its more than 300,000 mirrors have been scorching birds that fly through their path, and the Associated Press reports that local protected tortoises had to be relocated during the plant's construction.
While regulators are continuing to look into the plant's environmental impact, it's still a big moment for clean energy in California. "At Google we invest in innovative renewable energy projects that have the potential to transform the energy landscape and help provide more clean power to businesses and homes around the world," Rick Needham, Google's director of energy and sustainability, says in a statement. "Ivanpah is a shining example of such a project and we're delighted to be a part of it."
Hint: Use the 's' and 'd' keys to navigate
That’s not a light plane if I were guessing. Passenger in a commercial jet. He is 20 thousand feet high if he;s a foot. No matter, the point is the same.
Oldplayer
It could probably be re-purposed as a pretty impressive telescope.
Good call. I think you're right. He's way up there.
I know. That occurred to me too. It's nearly as bright as an arc welder, but the surface that's reflecting it is basically black. That's a bodacious amount of light, bro.
And this power plant will pay for itself in....what? A million years?
What a crock of Libtard diaper-fillings.
At night you could probably see it from downtown LA!
Oh, wait...
Okay guys — you’ve had your rest — here it comes again — just like yesterday — all together now focus — focus — focus — you guys over on the right what are you looking at — c’mon focus — focus — focus — awwww dam birds.
And what is the costs of electricity to the consumer compared to carbon based energy?
The plant has a rated capacity of 377 MW.
According to U.S. Energy Information Administration data, the cost of building and operating a new solar thermal power plant over its lifetime is greater than generating natural gas, coal or nuclear power. It costs a conventional coal plant $100, on average, to produce a megawatt-hour of power, but that figure is $261 for solar thermal power, according to 2011 estimates. The figures do not account for incentives such as state or federal tax credits that can impact the cost.
It happens....birds think that the shiny panels are water....and get fried
world’s largest bird cooker
Assume some damaging IR wavelengths, it truly hurt to look at.
LMAO Fallout new vegas ? I love it great game ! Fallout 4 Philadelphia is coming out in a few months should be fun !
They must order Windex by the truckload.
http://greencorruption.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-rat-in-recovery-and-gang-of-ten.html#.Uv2rRGJdW6I
The RAT in the Recovery
What most don’t know, not even the majority of Congress, is that there was a RAT hidden deep inside the 1,073-page stimulus bill, which was drafted by the Obama transition team and congressional aides.
Entitled the Obama-Biden Transition Project, it employed approximately 400 people and it was comprised of Obama bundlers and campaign contributors as well as lobbyist and those that operate inside Washington’s egregious revolving door. In the mix was a squadron of Center for American Progress (CAP) experts, the billionaire George Soros-funded liberal think tank. Within this transition group, we also find many that eventually operated inside this clean-energy scheme, of which I’ll highlight later.
“From the first debates over the stimulus bill, the White House has promised unprecedented levels of transparency and accountability,” noted U.S. News in 2009, even appointing Vice President Joe Biden as the nation’s stimulus spending cop, Stimulus Sheriff Joe, who ultimately went MIA.
Quite the contrary, and it all started when Team Obama starting planning their trillion-dollar spending spree, because “deep inside” the 2009 Recovery Act was a RAT, an attempt to suppress potential investigations, and only a few news outlets caught it in February of 2009: the Washington Post and the Washington Examiner.
As legislation was moving at rapid speed, and Congress continually failed to read the bills, the Obama administration had placed a “far-reaching and potentially dangerous provision.” The creation of the RAT Board (Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board) was supposed to be “an oversight panel headed by a White House nominee.”
The controversial provision emerged in a January 2009 draft of the bill prepared by Obama’s transition team officials and members of the House Appropriations Committee, of which at that time it was labeled by the White House as “critical to prevent waste and corruption.” This RAT board gave them the authority to ask, “That an inspector general conduct or refrain from conducting an audit or investigation.”
Did you get that? An Obama appointee could dictate what to investigate and what investigations they wanted to squash.
A modern nuclear power plant that takes up about as much space as the buildings surrounding just one of those towers would produce much more energy, cause much less environmental destruction, and look a whole lot better.
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