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http://www.nasdaq.com/article/ivanpah-solar-plant-may-be-forced-to-shut-down-20160316-01147 I found this quote in an article at this link..... Power from the two Ivanpah units that serve PG&E last year fetched about $200 a megawatt-hour on average during summer months, and about $135 a megawatt-hour on average the rest of the year, according to sales data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. That compares to an average price of $57 a megawatt-hour for solar power sold under contracts signed in 2015, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Power from natural-gas plants went for $35 a megawatt-hour on average in California's wholesale market last year, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data compiled by the Energy Department. PG&E negotiated the contracts in 2009, when solar power prices were much higher. "We think PG&E could negotiate a better price," said Karin Hieta of California'sOffice of Ratepayer Advocates, which believes PG&E should cancel the contract or rework the deal. The portion of the Ivanpah plant that supplies PG&E in 2014 generated 45% of the electricity the state commission expected under the power contracts, and 68% in 2015, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal data and state documents.

So is it a technical problem that the plant supply is so low? Or is it because it being limited to those production levels because their costs are so high and they can find cheaper power elsewhere that still meets their arbitrary percent renewable criteria?

The design criteria for the plant is apparently 940,000 MWhrs per year. The electrical production was supposed to ramp up over a 4 year period to hit its design in 2018. Something tells me that all of this has to do with costs, not capacity.... California hit its peak electrical load in 2006 and there is more than adequate generation capacity in the state. This is all about minimizing the amount taken from the high cost producers.... to the extent that they can get away with contractually so that the can buy from the lower cost producers. Since there is that much spread in prices and they have oversupply, shutting it down makes more than enough sense. In fact, it was just plain stupid that this monstrosity was ever built.