When I first heard about it before it was built, I thought it might be better way of generating electricity using solar energy because it used ‘old’ technology to generate power, that being steam driven generators, along with new technology – computer controlled mirrors to generate the steam – as it didn’t require exotic materials and used proven technology in a new way.
However, after $2.2 billion was spent to build and operate the plant, it’s being shut down because it “Never lived up to its promises.”
The last part surprised me as I wondered why as solar electric power plant would need large amounts of natural gas. It was a paradox...until I found out they used the natural gas in order to keep the molten salt hot when the sun was down. The molten salt was the working fluid that carried the heat from the ‘target’ at the top of each tower to the heat exchanger which generated the steam used to turn the turbines used to actually generate the electricity. That really didn’t make sense to me as I thought the idea was to reduce or eliminate the need for fossil fuels to generate electricity.
Construction began in 2010 and was completed in 2014. Now it’s set to close in 2026 after failing to efficiently generate solar energy.
In 2011, the US Department of Energy under President Barack Obama issued $1.6 billion in three federal loan guarantees for the project and the secretary of energy, Ernest Moniz, hailed it as “an example of how America is becoming a world leader in solar energy.”
But ultimately, it’s been more emblematic of profligate government spending and unwise bets on poorly conceived, quickly outdated technologies.
“Ivanpah stands as a testament to the waste and inefficiency of government subsidized energy schemes,”Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, an American energy advocacy group, told Fox News via statement this past February. It “never lived up to its promises”, producing less electricity than expected, while relying on natural gas to stay operational.”
It also depended on a lot of taxpayer money to keep operating, just the opposite of what was promised. It was supposed to be able to pay for itself but it never even came close to doing so. It was a money loser. Steven Milloy, senior fellow at the Energy & Environmental Legal Institute and former Trump EPA transition team member commented, “No green project relying on taxpayer subsidies has ever made any economic or environmental sense,” he said. “It’s important that President Trump stop the taxpayer bleeding by ending what he accurately calls the Green New Scam.”
There are plenty of other “green energy” projects out there that eat up a lot of taxpayer money, don’t produce the amount of power promised, aren’t reliable, and aren’t appropriate for some areas.
Call me an energy snob, but the money would be better spent on new late Generation III and Generation IV nuclear power plants.