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https://apnews.com/article/californ...oises-mojave-6d91c36a1ff608861d5620e715e1141c
The Ivanpah solar power plant formally opened in 2014 on roughly 5 square miles of federal land near the California-Nevada border. Though it was hailed at the time as a breakthrough moment for clean energy, its power has been struggling to compete with cheaper solar technologies.
Pacific Gas & Electric said in a statement it had agreed with owners — including NRG Energy Inc. — to terminate its contracts with the Ivanpah plant. If approved by regulators, the deal would lead to closing two of the plant’s three units starting in 2026. The contracts were expected to run through 2039.
“PG&E determined that ending the agreements at this time will save customers money,” the company said in a statement on its website.
Southern California Edison, which buys the rest of the power from the three-unit plant, is in discussions with owners and the U.S. Energy Department regarding a buyout of its Ivanpah contract.
Both myself and @JHZR2 have commented on this facility in past discussions.
The facility cost $2.2bn to construct for a nameplate capacity of 392MW. Most of the project cost was funded by the US government in the form of a DOE loan guarantee for $1.6 billion. It occupies ~3,500 acres of land, which is >1,000 acres more than the sprawling Bruce Power complex here in Ontario, that was originally intended on having a nameplate capacity of 13,464MW across four four-packs (Bruce A/B/C/D).
One of the biggest issues with Ivanpah is its considerable consumption of natural gas. The plant is effectively a solar spin on your traditional Rankine Cycle steam turbine, but because it would take ages to warm the plant up in the AM to the point that it generates electricity, things are "pre-heated" by burning natural gas, then transitioning to solar once the receptors get hot enough. In 2014, the plant burned 525 million cubic feet of natural gas.
Annual production, when the plant was operating properly, was expected to be around 1TWh per year. The plant regularly did not operate properly and failed to meet its contract obligations almost every year.
Output table from Wikipedia:
That's an average output of 714,293MWh; an average capacity factor of 20.8%, which is less than solar PV and considerably less than planned, which was 28.5%.
The Ivanpah solar power plant formally opened in 2014 on roughly 5 square miles of federal land near the California-Nevada border. Though it was hailed at the time as a breakthrough moment for clean energy, its power has been struggling to compete with cheaper solar technologies.
Pacific Gas & Electric said in a statement it had agreed with owners — including NRG Energy Inc. — to terminate its contracts with the Ivanpah plant. If approved by regulators, the deal would lead to closing two of the plant’s three units starting in 2026. The contracts were expected to run through 2039.
“PG&E determined that ending the agreements at this time will save customers money,” the company said in a statement on its website.
Southern California Edison, which buys the rest of the power from the three-unit plant, is in discussions with owners and the U.S. Energy Department regarding a buyout of its Ivanpah contract.
Both myself and @JHZR2 have commented on this facility in past discussions.
The facility cost $2.2bn to construct for a nameplate capacity of 392MW. Most of the project cost was funded by the US government in the form of a DOE loan guarantee for $1.6 billion. It occupies ~3,500 acres of land, which is >1,000 acres more than the sprawling Bruce Power complex here in Ontario, that was originally intended on having a nameplate capacity of 13,464MW across four four-packs (Bruce A/B/C/D).
One of the biggest issues with Ivanpah is its considerable consumption of natural gas. The plant is effectively a solar spin on your traditional Rankine Cycle steam turbine, but because it would take ages to warm the plant up in the AM to the point that it generates electricity, things are "pre-heated" by burning natural gas, then transitioning to solar once the receptors get hot enough. In 2014, the plant burned 525 million cubic feet of natural gas.
Annual production, when the plant was operating properly, was expected to be around 1TWh per year. The plant regularly did not operate properly and failed to meet its contract obligations almost every year.
Output table from Wikipedia:
| Year | Combined output (gas + solar) in MWh |
| 2014 | 419,085 |
| 2015 | 653,122 |
| 2016 | 703,039 |
| 2017 | 720,138 |
| 2018 | 795,856 |
| 2019 | 772,214 |
| 2020 | 856,301 |
| 2021 | 739,716 |
| 2022 | 769,164 |
That's an average output of 714,293MWh; an average capacity factor of 20.8%, which is less than solar PV and considerably less than planned, which was 28.5%.
