Why $2,200,000,000 solar farm in California desert failed as it's set to be switched off
Topics: California, US News
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Myung J. Chun
Topics: California, US News
The reason why a $2 billion solar farm in the California desert 'failed' has been revealed, after authorities decided to pull the plug on the ambitious project.
A whopping $2.2 billion was splashed on the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility in California’s Mojave Desert in 2014, with it promising big things.
The solar farm features three 459-foot towers and nearly 174,000 computer-controlled mirrors called heliostats. In conjunction, they were meant to capture sunlight and turn it into electricity.
It's being a massive project after construction began in 2010, before reaching a conclusion in 2014. However, the solar farm is earmarked to be shut for good in 2026 - 13 years earlier than planned.
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As you can imagine, not everyone was best pleased at the news.
Basically, Ivanpah never produced the energy it promised, so it was not viable option for officials to keep it going.
Remarkably, the solar farm also relied on natural gas to stay running, which of course goes against the whole reason it was introduced in the first place.
“Ivanpah stands as a testament to the waste and inefficiency of government subsidized energy schemes,” Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, told Fox News.
“It never lived up to its promises, producing less electricity than expected, while relying on natural gas to stay operational.”
NRG Energy Inc. the owners of the farm, said earlier this year that despite the impending closure of the expensive project, it was successful.
However, it was ultimately unable to compete with other technology that is meant to help with the environment, including rooftop panels, because of higher runner costs.
"The prices were competitive but advancements over time in photovoltaics and battery storage have led to more efficient, cost effective and flexible options for producing reliable clean energy,” NRG added.
Some environmentalists are pleased the solar farm is on the way out, with Julia Dowell of Sierra Club, telling the Independent: “The Ivanpah plant was a financial boondoggle and environmental disaster.
“Along with killing thousands of birds and tortoises, the project’s construction destroyed irreplaceable pristine desert habitat along with numerous rare plant species.
“While the Sierra Club strongly supports innovative clean energy solutions and recognizes the urgent need to transition away from fossil fuels, Ivanpah demonstrated that not all renewable technologies are created equal.”
Ivanpah was once the world’s largest solar plant and a symbol of California’s renewable energy dreams when construction completed in 2014, but the promise unfortunately faded.
The solar farm is located near the California-Nevada border - a 50-minute drive southwest of Las Vegas.