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Author Topic: California’s Ivanpah Solar Plant Shutting Down Over High Costs, Low Output  (Read 364 times)

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Offline rangerrebew

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California’s Ivanpah Solar Plant Shutting Down Over High Costs, Low Output
« on: June 15, 2025, 08:32:03 am »
California’s Ivanpah Solar Plant Shutting Down Over High Costs, Low Output
The sun sets on California’s massive solar plant.

by Zachary Faria  June 12, 2025, 10:31 AM   
California politics are synonymous with many things, but failed energy policy might be the most relevant. [emphasis, links added]


The Ivanpah solar power plant is on its way to being shut down, just 11 years after it opened. PG&E pulled out of its contract with the plant, leading to a planned closure of two of its three units by next year, while Southern California Edison is also working on buying out its contract.

The plant cost $2.2 billion to build, and the Department of Energy said taxpayers will receive a refund of an undisclosed amount for the $1.6 billion in department loans.

The contracts were supposed to take the plant through at least 2039.

https://climatechangedispatch.com/ivanpah-solar-plant-shutting-down-costs-output/
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Offline rangerrebew

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Re: California’s Ivanpah Solar Plant Shutting Down Over High Costs, Low Output
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2025, 08:33:55 am »
It's still not as massive as the California multibillion dollar high speed train to nowhere. :thud:
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The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth.  George Washington - Farewell Address

Offline Hoodat

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Re: California’s Ivanpah Solar Plant Shutting Down Over High Costs, Low Output
« Reply #2 on: June 15, 2025, 10:10:25 am »
This plant concept took 'stupid' to a higher level.  Instead of converting the sun's light directly into electricity, it relied on concentrating the sun's thermal energy to heat oil which was used to boil water, drive turbines, and generate electricity through kinetic energy, adding four more layers of inefficiency to the equation.
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Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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Re: California’s Ivanpah Solar Plant Shutting Down Over High Costs, Low Output
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2025, 04:34:23 pm »
Quote from: rangerrebew on June 15, 2025, 08:32:03 am
The contracts were supposed to take the plant through at least 2039.

https://climatechangedispatch.com/ivanpah-solar-plant-shutting-down-costs-output/
Hogwash.

It wasn't the contracts that would keep it open.

It was the government money, which is now dried up.
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“You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.” Thomas Sowell

Offline Smokin Joe

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Re: California’s Ivanpah Solar Plant Shutting Down Over High Costs, Low Output
« Reply #4 on: June 15, 2025, 04:59:45 pm »
Quote from: IsailedawayfromFR on June 15, 2025, 04:34:23 pm
Hogwash.

It wasn't the contracts that would keep it open.

It was the government money, which is now dried up.
:bingo:
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Online Fishrrman

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Re: California’s Ivanpah Solar Plant Shutting Down Over High Costs, Low Output
« Reply #5 on: June 15, 2025, 06:02:18 pm »
How much more is it going to cost to dismantle the plant and safely dispose of the components...?
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Offline Hoodat

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Re: California’s Ivanpah Solar Plant Shutting Down Over High Costs, Low Output
« Reply #6 on: June 15, 2025, 06:15:08 pm »
Quote
In 2020, Ivanpah produced 856 gigawatt-hours of energy. This represented a “substantial increase in efficiency and output,” and 91% of the plant’s production goals.

The plant takes up 3,500 acres of land.

Meanwhile, the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant is the last nuclear plant in California.

It takes up around 750 acres and produces over 17,700 gigawatt-hours of energy. That is around 20 times more than Ivanpah and accounted for over 8% of California’s in-state energy production in 2023.

The solar plant generates 0.245 GWHs per acre.  The nuclear plant generates 23.6 GWHs per acre - almost 100 times more.
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If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.     -Dwight Eisenhower-

"The [U.S.] Constitution is a limitation on the government, not on private individuals ... it does not prescribe the conduct of private individuals, only the conduct of the government ... it is not a charter for government power, but a charter of the citizen's protection against the government."     -Ayn Rand-

Offline IsailedawayfromFR

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Re: California’s Ivanpah Solar Plant Shutting Down Over High Costs, Low Output
« Reply #7 on: June 15, 2025, 07:59:33 pm »
Quote from: Hoodat on June 15, 2025, 06:15:08 pm
The solar plant generates 0.245 GWHs per acre.  The nuclear plant generates 23.6 GWHs per acre - almost 100 times more.
And that is what is called leaving a small footprint.

Those promoting renewables never mention that for solar, wind, or especially biomass.
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“You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.” Thomas Sowell
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