Posted on 02/01/2025 6:03:44 AM PST by DFG
What was once the world's largest solar power plant of its type appears headed for closure just 11 years after opening, under pressure from cheaper green energy sources. Meanwhile, environmentalists continue to blame the Mojave Desert plant for killing thousands of birds and tortoises.
The Ivanpah solar power plant formally opened in 2014 on roughly 5 square miles of federal land near the California-Nevada border. Though it was hailed at the time as a breakthrough moment for clean energy, its power has been struggling to compete with cheaper solar technologies.
Pacific Gas & Electric said in a statement it had agreed with owners — including NRG Energy Inc. — to terminate its contracts with the Ivanpah plant. If approved by regulators, the deal would lead to closing two of the plant's three units starting in 2026. The contracts were expected to run through 2039.
“PG&E determined that ending the agreements at this time will save customers money,” the company said in a statement on its website.
Southern California Edison, which buys the rest of the power from the three-unit plant, is in discussions with owners and the U.S. Energy Department regarding a buyout of its Ivanpah contract.
The plant appears likely to become a high-profile loser in the race to develop new types of clean energy in the era of climate change.
The Ivanpah plant uses a technology known as solar-thermal, or concentrated solar, in which nearly 350,000 computer-controlled mirrors roughly the size of a garage door reflect sunlight to boilers atop 459-foot towers. The sun’s power is used to heat water in the boilers’ tubes and make steam, which drives turbines to create electricity.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Well, technology moves on…
They will be tearing down, disposing of, and cleaning everything up there according to all environmental standards, right?
Solyndra 2 take the money and run
“Well, technology moves on…
They will be tearing down, disposing of, and cleaning everything up there according to all environmental standards, right?”
One would hope they clean up but doubtful unless there is stuff to salvage. Unlike wind turbines which may have nothing worth salvaging or able to salvage.
Yeah, what I was thinking. They’ll just walk away and nobody’s accountable.
Dump the junk in that big gully, think it’s called el grande canyon!
There is nothing “green” about this boondoggle.
The oldest hydroelectric power plants that is in operation. More than 100 years, Steigbachwerk, Immenstadt, Germany, 175 m. start 1880, 270 kW. 144 years old.
Get back to me next century and we can discuss Green Power Plants…… maybe civilization will save one to remind them of previous mistakes!
I agree with what you are saying, but why would they clean it up, at all? No one lives there.
It is a waste that the plant’s full life expectancy is not utilized. If it cannot compete with government-subsidized Chinese junk whose higher toxicity is ignored - that is still a waste.
In the end, I think that the Earth will better deal with the chemicals produced by fossil fuel use, than the waste from these “alternative” technologies.
Solar projects destroyed huge swaths of the land.
A lot more than any other Evil industry in recent years.
Hopefully, sooner or later, the public will learn that “green” energy is the most environmentally damaging industry of them all!
Its running costs should determine whether it stays in operation, if it runs OK.
Everything the left touches...turns to things such as this disaster.
Pretty much anything the government gets into is obselete by the time it’s built due to the time it takes to satisfy the bureacratic rules and regulations.
Fossil fuels are organic after all.
And the chemistry of an Earth overflowing with life was probably very different than it is, today.
Ashes to ashes… the Earth knows how to deal with organic chemicals.
“Fossil fuels are organic after all.”
Plus they are gluten free.
The Obama team was upbeat but now proven as incompetent.
“Ivanpah is an outstanding example of the progress we are making in building a renewable energy economy,” Salazar said at the groundbreaking.
In a sense, it is forced to sell energy at a competitive cost. It will close early based on competition with lower immediate costs. This is the price of tariff imbalances and government subsidization.
The Chinese are willing to “chew” their air and our government is willing to turn a blind eye to this and to the toxicity of what we import.
Are these environmentalists (notice the "mental" part...) really too stupid to see they are blaming themselves for this?
I remember hearing them say that contrails had a big impact on power production and they hadn’t factored that into their performance projections. Seems that the clear desert sun is not all that clear when you’re under one of the busiest flight paths in the country. (probably the same with dust on the mirrors, but that’s just a guess)
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