Ivanpah is a huge effort for a small amount of electricity. Thankfully the plant is a turkey, otherwise more would be built.
Nothing is going to cut down on natural gas consumption worldwide other than outlawing it.
"Successful" solar and wind augmented gas power systems will only increase the use of natural gas worldwide. There are literally billions of people on this planet who are eager to join the high energy industrial consumer lifestyle. They are even willing to use coal to do it. If solar and wind augmented gas power systems enable them to do that with less obvious environmental costs than coal, they will jump at the opportunity.
You look at monster windmills and solar plants as "progress." I do not.
Progress would be people discovering low energy, satisfying lifestyles that do not require the use of ANY fossil fuels, or any further destruction of remaining natural landscapes.
A society powered entirely by "renewable" energy, or even nuclear energy, looks nothing like the high energy industrial consumer society many of us now enjoy.
It's apparent gas is a desirable energy source for many people, even anti-nuclear activists, thus we are witness to a mass extinction event, which will include the extinction of this fossil fueled world economy, probably much sooner than we expect.
There is no simple "yes or no" answer.
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