AFTER AFTER NOT SERVING ITS PURPOSE, A $22 BILLION SOLAR FARM IN THE CALIFORNIA DESERT WAS SHUT DOWN
It was thought that the state would be able to recoup the $2.2 billion it spent on the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, situated in the Mojave Desert of California. The money saved would have been used to purchase fossil fuels. However, since its opening in 2014, its performance has been significantly different from what was expected.
The solar farm features three 459-foot towers and nearly 174,000 computer-controlled mirrors called heliostats. They were designed to work together to absorb sunlight and convert it into electrical power. Construction began in 2010 and was finished four years later, but now, twelve years later, it is scheduled to close in 2026. During the second term of President Barack Obama, the US Department of Energy awarded the project three federal loan guarantees totalling $1.6 billion in 2011.
Despite its lofty goals, Ivanpah never delivered on its energy promises, and even more astonishingly, it was dependent on natural gas to operate, making it anything but the environmentally friendly answer it purported to be.
“Ivanpah stands as a testament to the waste and inefficiency of government-subsidised energy schemes,” Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, told Fox News. He added, “It never lived up to its promises, producing less electricity than expected, while relying on natural gas to stay operational”.
Ivanpah was the biggest solar plant in the world when it first opened and represented California's aspirations for renewable energy, but its glory soon wore off. The blazing towers of the facility, which is 50 minutes southwest of Las Vegas and close to the California-Nevada border, are as stunning as some of the strip's casinos.
In order to heat fluid and produce steam, which turns turbines, the heliostats reflect sunlight onto receivers at the top of the towers. According to energy consultant Edward Smeloff, "it's complex." "It just didn't scale up," Smeloff continued. "Solar photovoltaic technology has surpassed it, making it a somewhat outdated technology." Compared to Ivanpah's mirrors, photovoltaic panels, often known as solar panels seen on rooftops, are far more effective and affordable at converting sunlight into power.
What's even worse, the technology is also deadly to wildlife, with experts estimating that at least 6,000 birds die each year after flying into the concentrated sunlight. “They get fried if they fly in the area where the reflection is going up to the tower,” Smeloff explained.