It finally happens. The Ivanpah solar power plant, the giant of bureaucratic mistakes and burned wild animals, circles the drain. Once celebrated as a game change for renewable energies, it is now quietly accompanied by the stage with a “nothing to see, see here, people”. After only 11 years in which he had tried to justify his own existence, Ivanpah is on the way to closure. Good exemption.
Los Angeles (AP) – What was once the world's largest solar power plant in its type appears under only 11 years after opening cheaper green energy sources. In the meantime, environmentalists continue to accuse the Mojave desert plant of killing thousands of birds and turtles.
https://apnews.com/article/california-solar-energy-birds-tortoises-mojave-6d91c36088620e71141c
The big, hot, shiny disaster
Ivanpah was opened in 2014 with all the usual pomps and circumstances as a “breakthrough moment for clean energy”. It spread over five square kilometers of the federal government in the Mojave desert, a brilliant evidence of the limitless hybris of central planners who thought they could beat the free market with subsidies and prayer.
The concept was shimmer-350,000 computer-controlled mirrors would reflect sunlight on kettle on three solid towers and create steam for turbines. It should be a triumph of innovation. Instead, it became a warning story about what happens when green energy dreams collide with reality.
Reality strikes back
The system has problems right from the start. First, it never produced as much electricity as promised. The reason? The sun did not shine as much as expected. Yes, you read that properly. Somehow the geniuses behind this project could not be taken into account.
Another unexpected problem: not enough sun. The weather forecasts for the area underestimated the amount of the cloud cover that Ivanpah has covered since the service in 2013.
https://ca.audubon.org/news/ivanpah-fail-deliver-energypromise
Then there was the little problem of the mass game victims. Conservationists tried to warn the light-eyed eco-planners who may not be the best idea in the middle of the Mojave. But they were fired-to-let birds rolled, which broke into flames in the middle of a flight when they went through the intensive reflected sunlight. The phenomenon was referred to as “streamers” because this happens when a bird burns spontaneously.
A new study by advisors hired by the Ivanpah Solar Facility in the Mojave desert estimates that the work was killed somewhere between 2,500 and 6,700 birds in the first year. Your best guess is that the actual number is around 3,500. The facility has from bird guards when observers reported that birds in the middle of the intensive warmth that was generated by the facility actually set fire to fire.
https://ca.audubon.org/node/22586
And let's not forget the desert turtles, another unintentional victim. Environmentalists initially fought against the construction of the plant and argued that it would destroy an untouched habitat. You were right. Instead of admitting a defeat, the Sierra Club and others have turned this catastrophe as “learning experience” about how not all projects for renewable energies are created equally.
The inevitable economic collapse
Even if Ivanpah hadn't been a wild crematorium, the numbers still couldn't get the numbers up. Pacific Gas & Electric (PG & E), which had agreed to buy electricity from Ivanpah, has decided to reduce its losses. The supply company announced that it would terminate its contracts with the system and claim that it would be a waste of money. In Corporate Speak: “PG & E found that the termination of the agreements saves money at this time.”
Southern California Edison, which buys the remaining force, is also looking for an escape route. If even Californian supply companies that have bent back to subsidize and mandate renewable energies, you know that you are a lost thing, you know that the end is nearby.
What now?
It is planned to complete Ivanpah's operations by 2026, although the original contracts should last until 2039. This means that we can tidy up this confusion of 13 years earlier than expected. The owners, including NRG Energy, now speak of the fact that instead the position of photovoltaic sun collectors can be suspended. Because in contrast to Ivanpah's glorified Lupeglas, this technology sometimes works somehow … better than Ivanpah, which leads to this fantastic quote:
In a statement, NRG said that the project was successful, but could not compete with competing photovoltaic solar technologies such as Dachpanels that have much lower capital and operating costs.
https://apnews.com/article/california-solar-energy-birds-tortoises-mojave-6d91c36088620e71141c
But the question remains: who will pay for this transition? The same taxpayers who have primarily financed this failed experiment? This part was not answered, but if the story is a guide, the draft law will find the way to the public. The Ministry of Energy asks Socal Edison to buy it out. The same doke that primarily financed this boondoggle.
Lessons from the debris
Ivanpah is a shining example of what happens when the ideology replaces solid economic and technical principles. It was never about producing reliable, inexpensive energy. It was about making a great, symbolic gesture in the fight against climate change. And as with most large, symbolic gestures, the reality finally caught up.
So let's take a moment to say goodbye to Ivanpah, the death trap of multimillions of dollars, the birds, displaced turtles and billions of allows for an energy source that could not even compete with solar on the roof.
Goodbye, Ivanpah. They will not be missing.
H/T Clyde Spencer, Doonman, Resouceguy, Yirgach
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