Posted on 02/14/2014 8:11:25 AM PST by lbryce
The Ivanpah solar power plant stretches over more than five square miles of the Mojave Desert. Almost 350,000 mirrors the size of garage doors tilt toward the sun with an ability to energize 140,000 homes. The plant, which took almost four years and thousands of workers assembling millions of parts to complete, officially opened on Thursday, the first electric generator of its kind.
It could also be the last.
Since the project began, the price of rival technologies has plummeted, incentives have begun to disappear and the appetite among investors for mammoth solar farms has waned. Although several large, new projects have been coming online in recent months — many in the last quarter of 2013 — experts say fewer are beginning construction and not all of those under development will be completed.
“I don’t think that we’re going to see large-scale solar thermal plants popping up, five at a time, every year in the U.S. in the long-term — it’s just not the way it’s going to work,” said Matthew Feinstein, a senior analyst at Lux Research.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
For Solydra, once it went green, the government start-up money was never again seen.
If the liberals are wrong about the viability of solar power, as they lecture us about what we should do, what else are they wrong about? Could they also be wrong about global warming and banning plastic bags?
A better question would be: “What are they (liberals) right about?”
Really? Doubts?
It will power 140,000 homes, right? Except for the 67% of the time when the sun doesn’t shine or shine brightly enough.
And given 132,452,405 housing units in the U.S., it’d take only about 1,000 more of these 33% efficient plants covering 5,000 square miles of the U.S. at a cost of only two trillion dollars. All in all, quite doable. IF you are a “Progressive” who graduated in Lesbian Dance Theory and believe in the economic and scientific nature of Unicorn and Rainbow power.
There was a prototype “solar tower” at Sandia Labs that is not used any more.
There was a commercial plant near Bagdad, CA (or maybe Daggett), that was the same technology. It was not commercially viable and was mothballed.
And now a bigger one is being made!
One cool thing about the Solar One project near Bagdad was the pattern of light in the sky. As you drove down the road, this ethereal floating pattern of light would appear on the horizon. Very mysterious if you didn’t know it was a solar mirror farm.
I wonder what would happen to a bird or insect if it flew into the beam?
It’s always amazing to me that the dim-bulb-crats claim to be the party of science...but it’s their types that typically fail even the most elementary science classes and consequently pursue areas more matched to their weak intellect - like law, political “science”, sociology...womyn’s “studies”, advanced marshmallow eating....etc....etc.
Please, liberals, leave the complicated things to us, and you take care of serving burgers.
There was a smaller one build by palm springs with the same fan fare that is now abandoned.
I would like to see more in city off the power grid alternatives.
Solar in city to reduce power bills.
They still haven’t declared their annual consumption of Windex or who has the mirror cleaning concession.
Also, it’s not nice to singe the feathers and ground any bird flying through the light beam, not to mention that the birds either die or can’t fly and slowly die after they’ve been scorched.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304703804579379230641329484
“The $2.2 Billion Bird-Scorching Solar Project”
I find it so odd that people are surprised that a device that is basically designed like a solar cooker successfully cooks birds that fly over it. Duh!
Now, you could turn that fault into a feature if you launched plucked, batter-dipped chickens over the mirror array, and caught them in KFC buckets when they fell out of the sky.
All the same, I think this array should be the last of its kind.
...see who the major backers are...probably a slew of senators and congressmen....all out for the bailout..$$$$$$$
Well, to be fair... Enrico Fermi built a small nuclear reactor under the stands at Stagg Field in Chicago that was abandoned immediately after it was used to demonstrate a chain reaction in U-235.
http://theguzzler.blogspot.com/2009/11/edison-demolishes-daggett-solar-tower.html
A pic of Solar One demolition (and a story about solar thermal power):
http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/ID/5538/Kalaeloa-Solar-Hawaii-Ratepayers-to-Bankroll-Green-Fiesta.aspx
PG&E tried this on the Carrissa Plains several years ago. Then dropped it.
I’ve wondered why this was attempted again, except to throw Other People’s Money away, as usual.
Holly Crap. Cost? And 140,000 homes? And during sunlight? What the hell 5 sq miles of land. This is a joke! One natural gas fired plant could do twice as much as this and day or night. These damn fools.
One short circuit and the whole damn thing blows up.
Thanks! The article does indeed talk about roasting birds on the wing. And it states that this is the first of its kind, which is obviously untrue.
Calculating from the rated output of 392 MW, assuming 33% availability (and assuming that energy storage is “free”) and comparing it to the US comsumption of 3,886,400,000 MWHr (in 2010) it would take a mere 3400 hundred such plants, covering 17,000 square miles. Not counting storage and attendant losses, including transmission losses.
There are environmentalists, much to their chagrin who admit that this thing is a danger to the habitat. Namely, it kills birds.
No mention of:
1. Total MW
2. Total cost before taxpayer subsidies
3. Total cost of infrastructure to connect it to the grid
4. Expected utilization rate
5. Expected cost per kwh
6. What power source it is displacing
7. Cost per kwh of power source it is displacing
8. Expected increase in cost per kwh to utility rate payers
9. Political connections of those who profited and got the taxpayer subsidies.
10. Likelihood the taxpayer guaranteed loan will ever be paid back.
This article is just political propaganda. It is without substance.
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