Horror at the world's largest solar farm days after it opens as it is revealed panels are SCORCHING birds that fly over them

  • The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, the world's largest solar plant of its kind, recently switched on
  • The plants is located on five square miles of the Mojave Desert, near the California / Nevada border
  • State energy officials have released photos of bird with singed feathers from flying into the hot 'thermal flux' around the towers, which can reach 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit
  • The plant is made up of three generating units surrounded by more than 300,000 reflecting mirrors
  • At full power it produces enough electricity for 140,000 homes but is still attracting controversy over environment

Environmentalists have hit out at a giant new solar farm in the Mojave Desert as mounting evidence reveals birds flying through the extremely hot 'thermal flux' surrounding the towers are being scorched.

After years of regulatory tangles around the impact on desert wildlife, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System opened on Thursday but environmental groups say the nearly 350,000 gigantic mirrors are generating 1000 degree Fahrenheit temperatures which are killing and singeing birds.

According to compliance documents released by developer BrightSource Energy last year, dozens of birds were found injured at the site during the building stage.

State and federal regulators are currently conducting a two-year study of the Ivanpah plant's effects on birds, with environmental groups questioning the value of cleaner power when native wildlife is being killed or injured.

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