When having a backyard barbecue, it is probably not a good idea to bring up the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility (the largest of its kind in the world) as a topic of conversation because you are undoubtedly going to offend someone at the party.
The Ivanpah 392 megawatt concentrated solar thermal plant was constructed on 3,500 acres of land using 173,500 heliostats (twin mirrors) designed to focus sunlight on three receiver towers that generate steam to drive steam turbines that generate electricity. To increase efficiency of the units and extend operating hours, the receiving units are equipped with supplemental gas-fired boilers that pre-heat the circulating water in the morning and add supplemental energy to keep the water hotter for a longer period of time in the late afternoon.
Supporters of the project say that the plant when fully functional will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 400,000 tons annually and supply supplemental energy to over 100,000 homes. As an economic benefit, construction of the facility provided over 1,000 temporary jobs and 86 permanent jobs. Total economic benefits is estimated to be $3 billion. The total amount of ground disturbance is very small when considering the total project area.
Those that oppose the project say that this is just "another bungled government investment in clean energy." (The facility cost $2.18 billion to construct, which was backed with a $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee.) Energy produced to date has been far below the anticipated generating capacity, which has been blamed on everything from a poor choice of locations to unusually poor weather conditions. The solar receivers (focus point of the mirrors) produce a high-temperature flux field around the towers; thus, any birds or insects that accidentally fly into the flux field are incinerated. Opponents also point out that the plant is using 60 percent more natural gas than anticipated to fire the supplemental boilers.
Investors in the project announced that they have "shelved" plans to build any additional similar projects.
(Source: Google Earth)
(Source: Google Earth)
(Source: Google Earth)
(Receiver - not in service)
(Heliostat Mirrors)
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