We wrote about this solar farm a couple years ago (June 23, 2012), when much less information was available. Well, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System officially opened last week, so now there’s plenty more to say about it.
Funny you should mention Google, since the search-engine giant is a minority partner in the $2.2 billion solar-thermal project, having invested nearly $200 million (Google’s power needs for its server operations are among the most demanding in the world). The other partners are NRG Energy and Brightsource Energy; Ivanpah was built by Bechtel.
Ivanpah’s three generating complexes occupy 3,500 acres of public land near Primm, Nevada, and can produce up to 400 megawatts of electricity, which can power 140,000 homes; it’s currently the largest solar-thermal power plant in the world.
Ivanpah consists of nearly 350,000 heliostatic mirrors, each about seven feet wide and ten feet tall, roughly the size of a standard garage door. They’re computer controlled to track the sun during the day and reflect light to the five-million-pound boilers atop the three 459-foot-tall "solar-power towers." The sunlight heats water in the boilers’ tubes, which makes steam, which drives conventional turbines, which creates emissions-free electricity.
It’s a spectacular sight, to be sure: a third of a million mirrors in the desert appearing like some sort of colossal, even cosmic, mirage. However, experts contend that it’s the last of its kind to be built in this part of the world (Brightsource is now pursuing overseas markets, such as China, India, and South Africa).
First, it was approved in 2010 and solar technology has changed since then. The more common photovoltaic solar panels have dramatically dropped in price, rendering solar-thermal extremely expensive by comparison. Also, the industry trend for photovoltaics is shifting away from large solar farms to much smaller decentralized installations. And Ivanpah has no storage capacity; its energy goes directly into the grid. (Brightsource is working on technology that uses molten sand to store the heat longer; molten sand is already in use at the Solana Solar Generating Station near Gila Bend, Arizona, about 70 miles southwest of Phoenix.)
In addition, federal guarantees for renewable-energy projects have all but dried up, and natural-gas-fired plants are much cheaper to build – about $1,000 per megawatt, less than 20% of the $5,500 per megawatt that Ivanpah cost to build.
Though it’s projected that Ivanpah will reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by more than 400,000 tons annually, it also concerns environmentalists, who worry that it has irreparably damaged a large desert tortoise habitat, and dead birds found in the area have had their feathers burned and charred by the intense heat and radiation of the heliostats.
The power towers, too, are a definite distraction to drivers along I-15. The towers’ receiver units, which become extremely hot during full operation, glow brightly, almost blindingly if stared at long enough. Driver beware.
For regular news and local-interest stories regarding everything from renewable-energy projects, to farmers-market schedules, to recycling events, to new vegan or gluten-free-friendly restaurants, to "shop-local" business initiatives and more, follow our @GreenVegas Twitter handle.
