Ivanpah Solar Plant Could Be Soon Shut Down For, Get This, Not Producing Enough Power

Color me shocked!

(Daily Caller)  California regulators may force a massive solar thermal power plant in the Mojave Desert to shut down after years of under-producing electricity — not to mention the plant was blinding pilots flying over the area and incinerating birds.

The Ivanpah solar plant could be shut down if state regulators don’t give it more time to meet electricity production promises it made as part of its power purchase agreements with utilities, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Ivanpah, which got a $1.6 billion loan guarantee from the Obama administration, only produced a fraction of the power state regulators expected it would. The plant only generated 45 percent of expected power in 2014 and only 68 percent in 2015, according to government data.

This is what happens when Big Promises are made on technology that is less than viable. That $1.6 billion could have been spent on research and development to produce solar that works well. Nope. Had to go to an Obama donor (also, Harry Reid). The cost is rated at $200 a megawatt hour, almost 6 times the cost of natural gas. Said natural gas is also need to supplement the running of the plant, since it apparently cannot produce enough electricity to run itself.

And, the plant has till July 2016 to supply more power or it could be shut down. Which could mean big problems, considering that the owners asked for a $539 million grant to help pay of the $1.6 federal loan.

One has to wonder, if this technology is so great, why is it necessary to finance it with taxpayer money? If it worked well, the private sector would be dumping oodles of their own money into it.

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8 Responses to “Ivanpah Solar Plant Could Be Soon Shut Down For, Get This, Not Producing Enough Power”

  1. JGlanton says:

    I don’t believe that I’ve ever heard of an alternative energy installation that generated anywhere near the energy that was promised to the taxpayers that helped fund it. The BS runs deep when projects are funded by OPM.

  2. gitarcarver says:

    Or color you behind the curve. Here are the updates you missed.

    Or color you behind the ability to read.

    Teach’s post is dead on and supported by the very articles you cite.

    The initial agreement was to shut the plant on February 1, but in a December filing, the backers of Ivanpah asked for more time. The The California Public Utilities Commission approved a forebearance agreement to extend Ivanpah’s time to meet agreed upon production levels in July of this year.

    This is what Teach wrote:

    And, the plant has till July 2016 to supply more power or it could be shut down.

    If the plant fails to meet that goal, it can be shut down. If it meets the goal, it has an additional 6 months to meet the original February 1, 2016 goal.

    Teach is right about the need for natural gas to run itself as the plant has no method of storing energy it creates.

    Oh, and in case you missed it, the backers of Ivanpah paid an undisclosed amount of money to keep the plant open. Also the stated energy output levels the forbearance agreement now requires were not disclosed either. This means that the agreement, which should be a public document, is being hidden.

    In short, your attack on the post is misguided and without foundation.

  3. Dana says:

    The plant underproduced due to climate change, which left the Mohave Desert subject to overcast and cloudy weather.

  4. John says:

    Teach
    Please check primary sources don’t just eat up what you are being spoon fed
    That solar plant is close to being on schedule and has increased power by 20% from 2014 to 2015
    It will certainly have another increase this year
    Yes natural gas IS used in the start up phase
    It was engineered to be that way
    Teach that 1.6 billion was a loan guarantee so far it has cost the government NOTHING
    The money to finance that project all came from private venture capitalists
    To meet its contractual obligations it must produce 70% of total rated output by June
    It is currently at 65%

  5. Jeffery says:

    In short, your attack on the post is misguided and without foundation.

    It was hardly an “attack”, was it? Anyway… I didn’t write the updated information that Teach could have supplied, I just supplied it. Please. Let’s just recognize that Teach and his ilk are propagandists, not journalists. He has no interest in informing his hapless readers; he seeks to persuade. He might as well just type “Solar bad; Coal good!”.

    More information is good for an argument.

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