Could California’s massive Ivanpah solar power plant be forced to go dark?

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/could-californias-massive-ivanpah-solar-power-plant-be-forced-to-go-dark-2016-03-16

[font face=Serif]The Wall Street Journal
[font size=5]Could California’s massive Ivanpah solar power plant be forced to go dark?[/font]

By Cassandra Sweet
Published: Mar 16, 2016 8:18 p.m. ET

[font size=4]$2.2 billion desert project not generating enough energy; backers ask for more time[/font]


The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is seen in an aerial view on February 20, 2014 in the Mojave Desert in California.

[font size=3]A federally backed, $2.2 billion solar project in the California desert isn’t producing the electricity it is contractually required to deliver to PG&E Corp., which says the solar plant may be forced to shut down if it doesn’t receive a break Thursday from state regulators.

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, owned by BrightSource Energy Inc., NRG Energy Inc. … and Alphabet Inc.’s … Google, uses more than 170,000 mirrors mounted to the ground to reflect sunlight to 450-foot-high towers topped by boilers that heat up to create steam, which in turn is used to generate electricity.

But the unconventional solar-thermal project, financed with $1.5 billion in federal loans, has riled environmentalists by killing thousands of birds, many of which are burned to death — and has so far failed to produce the expected power.

PG&E … is asking the California Public Utilities Commission for permission to overlook the shortfall and give Ivanpah another year to sort out its problems, warning that allowing its power contracts to default could force the facility to shut down. The commission’s staff is recommending that it grant the extension Thursday.

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[Cleita]

1. All I can say is F*** PG&E. That project needs to be taken over

by non-profit citizen ownership or the county or state. PG&E doesn't want solar to succeed. For one thing the money should have gone to put solar panels or roofs and along freeways instead of effing up a natural habitat that was basically pristine.

They are my energy provider and they do a piss poor job.

[jonno99]

3. I agree with the idea of solar panels on roofs and along freeways, however,

you're talking about two different ideas.

Short of shutting it down, how would a different controlling entity (e.g. a non-profit) resolve the problems this facility is facing?

[Travis_0004]

2. The output sucks for a plant that size

Plus, 25% of output comes from buring natural gaa at the plant