Posted on 03/18/2016 11:46:08 AM PDT by beaversmom
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. NRG, -1.72% and Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG, -0.37% GOOGL, -0.54% 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 PCG, +0.51% 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.
Spokesmen for BrightSource, which developed the technology, and NRG, which operates the plant, declined to comment on its future. NRG has said it has taken more than a year to adjust equipment and learn how to best run it.
The Energy Department said last week it supports giving the plant, which started operating in early 2014, more time.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
The intelligent idiots jumped the shark, solar is not perfected yet but they used it as a scam anyway to get rich by payinf off thier friends with our tax dollars which was the main objective anyway
Prepare for the flames, Cali!
And Hillary wants to shut down coal plants that produce cheap and reliable energy.
I am bound to confess that the engineer in me is thrilled by this project.
“...used it as a scam anyway to get rich by payinf off thier friends with our tax dollars which was the main objective anyway..”
All of Obama’s solar “projects” have been for Democrat money laundering which comes back for their campaign money. It is not even well hidden because there is no resistance from the Republican ESTABLISHMENT.
My old company went bankrupt chasing solar.
It can work in certain areas and within limits, but it is a supplement, not a sole generation source.
“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.”
You mean it wasn’t properly engineered, or the regs changed? Doesn’t matter, CA is screwed anyway, I guess, but someone should walk the plank. These moops decide they can go unchallenged in these half-assed engineering schemes because they are GENIUSES, then can’t deliver time and again there. No wonder CA is screwed up.
Hillary and her other far-left psychopath compatriots want to see the population of the world cut by either 90% or 99%, depending on who's talking.
Of course, they keep this to themselves unless they're totally sure they're "among friends."
$200 per Megawatt/hour. 200!
And that’s with Natural Gas as a supplement.
This power-station is a train-wreck. An extremely lucrative train-wreck.
It will (eventually) go out of business and have to be demolished. It will then require careful handling of the hectares of lethally toxic panel-coatings.
Google Invests $168 Million in Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2704103/posts
“...has riled environmentalists by killing thousands of birds, many of which are burned to death...”
There is literally no known means of generating large amounts of energy that the enviro nuts will approve. Yet they all seem to be quite willing to live a comfortable, civilized life, using the electric power they so disapprove of.
Wow that’s really uneconomical.
Good thing the crony capitalism part keeps food on somebody’s table
/s
Having said that, I just realised that this is a mirror plant, not one with acres of actual solar cells.
But still: $200 per MWhr is very expensive. The fact that it’s running at only about half output is just icing on the cake.
Obama-Backed Solar Plant Could Be Shut Down For Not Producing Enough Energy [Ivanpah]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3410760/posts
“I am bound to confess that the engineer in me is thrilled by this project.”
I confess that the taxpayer, and intelligent person in me are disgusted any engineer would be thrilled by such a boondoggle.The ROI is horrible, the efficiecies are terrible, the side effects were foreseeable and all was calculable.
ping!
I could have used that money.
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