A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.

13 November 2015

Is Ivanpah the worst solar electric project in the world?

Possibly not, but it’s among the top contenders. And, reports the Riverside, CA, Press-Enterprise, Ivanpah — which is supposed to produce clean energy — burns enough natural gas that it’s a greenhouse gas emitter that’s required to join California’s cap and trade program to reduce carbon emissions.

Some background. Located in the California desert near the border with Nevada, Ivanpah is a dual fuel steam electric generating facility, with sunlight serving as the primary fuel. Mirrors focus sunlight on a boiler atop a 460-foot tower; there are three towers, each with its own field of mirrors. The boilers drive steam turbines that spin the generators. It looks like something Jules Verne or Rube Goldberg might have designed.

The other fuel is natural gas. In the morning, it heats the boilers so that when the sun rises, there’s enough steam pressure to start generating immediately. And if there’s a rare cloudy period, natural gas keeps the boilers hot enough to provide uninterrupted generation. Ivanpah has approval to burn 525 million cubic feet of natural gas a year.

Ivanpah could be run as a natural gas fired steam plant. In fact, I suspect there are plans to do just that at night.

There’s a place for solar thermal projects. But it’s not in schemes of the Ivanpah genre. It’s on rooftops, heating water for residential and commercial use. Ivanpah is expensive, ridiculously complicated, and possibly dishonest. It’s an embarrassment. Look for it to be decommissioned when wind driven sand scours the mirrors to the point they need refinishing.