In this article we will analyze Ivanpah Solar Power Facility from different perspectives with the aim of providing a comprehensive view on this topic. Ivanpah Solar Power Facility is a topic of great relevance today, and its importance extends to various areas, from the personal to the professional sphere. Throughout this text we will explore its origins, evolution, impact and possible future repercussions. In addition, we will delve into its most notable and controversial aspects, trying to shed light on this complex and constantly evolving topic. With attention to the different approaches and opinions that exist around Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, we aim to offer a complete and enriching vision for the reader.
Concentrated solar thermal power station in the Mojave Desert of California
Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System
Looking north towards Ivanpah Facility's eastern boiler tower from Interstate 15
The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is a concentrated solar thermal plant in the Mojave Desert. It is located at the base of Clark Mountain in California, across the state line from Primm, Nevada. The plant has a gross capacity of 392 megawatts (MW). It uses 173,500 heliostats, each with two mirrors focusing solar energy on boilers located on three 459 feet (140 m) tallsolar power towers. The first unit of the system was connected to the electrical grid in September 2013 for an initial synchronisation test. The facility formally opened on February 13, 2014. In 2014, it was the world's largest solar thermal power station.
The $2.2 billion facility was developed by BrightSource Energy and Bechtel. The largest investor in the project was NRG Energy which contributed $300 million. Google contributed $168 million. The United States government provided a $1.6 billion loan guarantee and the plant is built on public land. In 2010, the project was scaled back from its original 440 MW design to avoid disturbing the habitat of the desert tortoise.
Fields of heliostat mirrors focus sunlight on receivers located on centralized solar power towers. The receivers generate steam to drive specially adapted steam turbines.
For the first plant, the largest-ever fully solar-powered steam turbine generator set was ordered, with a 123 MW Siemens SST-900 single-casing reheat turbine. Siemens also supplied instrumentation and control systems. The plants use BrightSource Energy's "Luz Power Tower 550" (LPT 550) technology which heats the steam to 550 °C directly in the receivers. The plants have no storage.
The largest investor in the project was NRG Energy, a generating company based in Princeton, New Jersey. It contributed $300 million. The project also received an investment of $168 million from Google. However, in November 2011, Google announced that it would no longer invest in the facility due to the rapid decline of the price of photovoltaic systems. $90,000,000 in financing was provided through the EB-5 Investor Immigration program, managed in this case by CMB Regional Centers.
Ivanpah Solar Power Facility online
Ivanpah's eastern tower online. Note the sunlight glare on either side of the boiler.
One of the three towers of the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility
A severely underexposed close-up of one of the boilers
Solar towers in full operation
Satellite photo of Ivanpah (center)
Fossil fuel consumption
The plant burns natural gas each morning to commence the operation. The Wall Street Journal reported, "Instead of ramping up the plant each day before sunrise by burning one hour's worth of natural gas to generate steam, Ivanpah needs more than four times that much." On August 27, 2014, the State of California approved Ivanpah to increase its annual natural gas consumption from 328,000,000 cubic feet (9,300,000 m3) of natural gas, as previously approved, to 525,000,000 cubic feet (14,900,000 m3). In 2014, the plant burned 868×109 British thermal units (254 GWh) of natural gas emitting 46,084 metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is nearly twice the pollution threshold at which power plants and factories in California are required to participate in the state's cap and trade program to reduce carbon emissions. If that fuel had been used in a Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) plant, it would have generated about 124 GWh of electrical energy. The facility used that gas plus solar energy to produce 419 GWh of electrical energy (more than three times that of the referenced CCGT plant), all the while operating at well below its expected output. In 2015, the facility showed higher production numbers, with Q1 increases of 170% over the same time period in 2014.
The facility uses three Rentech Type-D water tube boilers and three night time preservation boilers. The California Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission approved for each a stack "130 feet (40 m) high and 60 inches (1.5 m) in diameter" and consumption of 242,500 cu ft/h (6,870 m3/h) of fuel.
Economic impact
BrightSource estimated that the Ivanpah facility would provide 1,000 jobs at the peak of construction, 86 permanent jobs, and total economic benefits of $3 billion. Elected San Bernardino County Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, who represents most of the California Mojave Desert, stated that the "project would create jobs for mostly Las Vegas and electricity for mostly San Francisco".
The project received a $1.6 billion loan guarantee from the United States Department of Energy. According to Synapse Energy Economics, the estimated construction cost for the facility of $5,561.00 per kW fell between that of coal and nuclear power plants. but this does not account for the less favorable capacity factor of solar power.
In November 2014, the facility's investors applied for a $539 million federal grant to finance their federal loan.
Performance
Contracted power-delivery performance of 640 GWh/year from Units 1 and 3 and 336 GWh from Unit 2 was met by 2017, following sharply reduced production in the first few years of operation, particularly in the start-up year of 2014.
In November 2014, the Associated Press reported that the facility was producing only "about half of its expected annual output". The California Energy Commission issued a statement blaming this on "clouds, jet contrails and weather". Performance improved in 2015 to about 650 GWh. However, NRG Energy said in its November quarterly report that Ivanpah would likely not meet its contractual obligations to provide power to PG&E during the year, raising the risk of default on its Power Purchase Agreement. PG&E had a contract to receive 640 GWh/year from Units 1 and 3, while SCE was supposed to receive 336 GWh from Unit 2, at a price of about $200/MWh (20¢/kWh). In March 2016, PG&E agreed not to declare the plant in default for at least four months in return for an undisclosed sum from the owners.
In June 2015, The Wall Street Journal reported, "15 months after starting up, the plant is producing just 40% of , according to data from the U.S. Energy Department." Performance improved dramatically in the second year. CleanTechnica reported with respect to units 1 and 3 that "in 2015, PG&E customers received about 97% of Ivanpah's contracted electrons, which is a massive improvement over its first year".
By 2017, due to improvements, the plant was meeting the contract output requirements.
The steam plant was designed for 28.72% gross efficiency. The local irradiance near the area is about 7.4 kWh/m2/day (annual average) for a total solar energy flow in the visible spectrum of 2.717 MWh/m2 yearly.
One heliostat mirror is a 75.6 square feet (7.02 m2) reflecting surface, giving a total of 151.2 square feet (14.05 m2) per heliostat. The total plant heliostat reflecting surface results in 173,500 heliostats × 14.05 m2/heliostat = 2,437,144 m2. If the mirrors could always be perpendicular to Sun's ray, based on irradiance, the intercepted solar energy flow is 2.717 MWh/m2/year × 2,437,144 m2 = 6,621,720 MWh yearly.
May 2016 fire
On May 19, 2016, a small fire was reported when misaligned mirrors reflected sunlight into a level of Unit 3 tower not designed to collect power, requiring the tower to shut down for repairs. As another of the three power-generating units was already offline for scheduled maintenance, the plant was left with only one third of its installation functional. Unit 3 resumed operation on June 8, 2016. All three units were back in operation by June 20, 2016. Solar thermal electricity production in California peaked at 703 MW on that day, up from 452 MW on June 7 when two units were offline.
Awards
In August 2014, Ivanpah was awarded the "Plant of the Year" award from Power magazine. In February 2012, Ivanpah was awarded the CSP (Concentrating Solar Power) Project of the Year by Solar Power Generation USA.
Environmental impacts
The project generated controversy because of the decision to build it on ecologically intact desert habitat. The Ivanpah installation was estimated, before operations started, to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 400,000 tons annually. It was designed to minimize impacts on the natural environment compared to some photovoltaic solar facilities because the use of heliostats does not require as much grading of the land. The facility was fenced off to keep out some terrestrial wildlife. However, birds faced the risk of collision with the heliostat mirrors or from burning in solar flux created by the mirror field.
In 2012, the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) issued a report on the project, citing water concerns, damage to visual resources, and impacts on important desert species. To conserve scarce desert water, LPT 550 uses air-cooling to convert steam back into water. Compared to conventional wet-cooling, this results in a 90 percent reduction in water usage. The water is then returned to the boiler in a closed process.
Another potential issue is the effect of mirror glare on airplane pilots. Additionally, "the power towers have 'receiver units' at their top on which the mirror fields focus their reflected light. During operation, these receiver units become extremely hot, such that they glow and appear brightly lit. ... Because they are high above the ground, these glowing receiver units will be a visible distraction to persons at many of the KOPs , including travelers utilizing I-15."
According to the State of California Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission Opening Briefs regarding this project, "the project itself is visually imposing. It would cover roughly 4,000 acres , most of which would be covered with mirror fields. The panoramic expanse of mirror arrays would present strong textural contrast with the intact, natural character of the desert floor would rise to a height of roughly 459 feet ; an additional 10 to 15 feet above that height would consist of lighting to meet Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements."
Desert tortoise
The Ivanpah Solar power project was built on 6 square miles (16 km2) of public land in the south central Mojave Desert. Project construction was temporarily halted in the spring of 2011 due to the suspected impacts on desert tortoises. Construction resumed when the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) found the project was not likely to jeopardize the endangered desert tortoise. BrightSource also installed fencing to keep wildlife out of the area. In 2010, the project was scaled back from the original 440 MW design, to avoid building on the habitat of the desert tortoise.
Many desert tortoises found on the site were relocated to other parts of the Mojave Desert. However, environmentalists raised concerns that relocated tortoises were more likely to die due to the stresses involved.
Birds
During the trial of the plant in September 2013, thirty-four dead birds were found at the plant. Fifteen had heavily burned feathers, which staff at the plant referred to as "streamers" because they were burned in flight by the intense radiation from the heliostat mirrors. From February through June 2014, a team of biologists monitoring the number of bird deaths reported a total of 290.
In April 2014, the USFWS reported that 141 dead birds, including peregrine falcon, barn owl and yellow-rumped warbler had been collected at Ivanpah in October 2013. Forty-seven of the birds' deaths were attributed to solar flux. According to a report by the Associated Press, "Ivanpah might act as a 'mega-trap' for wildlife, with the bright light of the plant attracting insects, which in turn attract insect-eating birds that fly to their death in the intensely focused light rays." Bird kill mitigation strategies were considered, including proven, environmentally safe technologies such as avian radars and LRADs to keep birds away from the site, covering ponds to discourage waterbirds from loitering, and clearing additional land around the plant to make it less attractive and more visible to birds in flight. Some of the bird deaths occurred when the plant was in standby-mode, and the mirrors were focused above the tower. This issue was resolved by spreading the focus wider, below damaging intensity.
In April 2015 The Wall Street Journal reported that "biologists working for the state estimated that 3,500 birds died at Ivanpah in the span of a year, many of them burned alive while flying through a part of the solar installment where air temperatures can reach 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit ".
In late 2015, Brightsource released the results of the first full year monitoring bird and bat deaths at the Ivanpah solar plant. The company reported that during a year of study supervised by the California Division of Wildlife, the number of observed bird deaths, adjusted upward to account for inefficiencies of the carcass-counting, were around 3,500 bird deaths per year caused by the Ivanpah solar plant. The Ivanpah plant took steps to further reduce bird deaths.
The initial reports of high avian casualties have been disputed ever since initial reports surfaced. In September 2014, for example, Renewable Energy World suggested "With its claim of 28,000 dead birds from Ivanpah, the Associated Press syndicated a story on every front page in America, spreading alarm about concentrated solar power (CSP) plants, which was not grounded in facts, but on one opponent's speculation."
In September 2016, federal biologists said about 6,000 birds die from collisions or immolation annually while chasing flying insects around the facility's towers.
Ivanpah Solar electric production is as follows (in megawatt-hours, MWh).
Ivanpah 1 (126 MW gross)
Net electricity production (all)
Year
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Sun
NG
Total
2014
5,632
4,460
4,946
9,130
15,879
23,722
12,277
16,807
19,743
17,455
15,993
5,922
151,966
0
151,966
2015
4,448
16,471
20,010
25,281
12,380
25,126
19,575
23,404
21,333
11,813
16,230
13,904
201,075
8,902
209,975
2016
7,599
23,686
18,427
13,284
26,006
32,875
31,796
24,403
26,860
20,616
19,663
10,440
243,479
12,176
255,655
2017
11,310
11,699
12,283
11,656
28,709
34,797
21,742
23,437
24,803
28,777
14,736
15,577
228,136
11,390
239,526
2018
16,881
9,714
18,825
14,019
19,704
36,206
21,400
26,060
29,267
20,173
18,055
12,172
231,142
11,334
242,476
2019
13,784
2,178
13,823
20,270
20,031
32,266
32,026
32,450
24,140
27,333
16,380
8,356
234,681
8,798
243,037
2020
12,350
17,961
14,547
22,355
33,691
30,616
38,060
33,299
27,324
27,041
18,176
9,713
270,941
14,192
285,133
2021
13,103
7,958
19,132
24,609
27,896
23,319
16,988
26,664
24,904
15,777
22,027
12,774
223,357
11,794
235,151
2022
15,898
8,191
18,717
26,207
20,133
31,045
18,183
16,488
17,543
25,338
15,108
9,920
217,597
5,174
222,771
Total
2,002,374
83,760
2,085,690
Ivanpah 2 (133 MW gross)
Net electricity production (all)
Year
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Sun
NG
Total
2014
2,167
1,304
5,604
9,596
13,020
15,825
14,350
12,812
14,446
18,157
15,350
6,632
129,264
0
129,263
2015
6,909
8,915
19,585
24,364
17,243
26,206
18,953
23,900
22,628
12,477
22,222
15,642
210,515
8,529
219,044
2016
10,070
17,615
19,436
5,626
0
9,359
33,386
25,281
25,918
20,389
21,012
11,590
190,412
9,270
199,682
2017
13,381
9,220
16,754
13,359
29,201
22,800
22,181
20,204
25,708
29,253
16,577
17,736
226,850
9,974
236,824
2018
13,536
16,429
20,399
21,254
29,246
39,354
20,599
28,467
32,364
21,375
20,436
13,595
264,009
13,045
277,054
2019
15,085
13,207
12,635
19,331
22,647
34,930
33,856
36,735
25,343
30,832
19,310
7,731
258,458
13,184
271,642
2020
16,180
5,044
5,297
21,517
37,645
33,438
39,333
34,852
29,915
26,896
20,827
11,601
269,143
13,402
282,545
2021
13,811
10,769
21,341
30,297
28,082
25,521
19,691
29,712
26,244
17,027
19,548
10,302
242,094
10,251
252,345
2022
16,683
10,167
21,390
27,177
35,487
33,871
23,178
17,420
23,432
28,859
17,780
11,903
261,333
6,014
267,347
Total
2,052,078
83,669
2,135,747
Ivanpah 3 (133 MW gross)
Net electricity production (all)
Year
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Sun
NG
Total
2014
2,686
3,866
9,409
6,107
15,885
24,728
9,340
14,451
9,562
20,401
15,834
5,587
137,856
0
137,856
2015
10,531
4,887
17,495
25,659
18,333
26,202
23,153
25,502
22,186
12,681
22,022
15,452
215,573
8,530
224,103
2016
7,770
25,953
20,546
19,539
17,430
23,487
33,667
15,947
29,437
20,307
21,377
12,242
236,684
11,018
247,702
2017
13,164
12,909
21,605
15,574
29,103
40,080
22,471
24,001
24,730
19,755
9,488
10,618
231,913
11,875
243,788
2018
18,456
17,820
19,957
26,787
27,488
40,177
21,198
24,047
30,075
20,848
19,380
10,093
266,338
9,988
276,326
2019
6,342
11,818
21,794
19,744
22,029
34,803
31,638
32,214
23,251
26,683
17,700
9,431
246,784
10,751
257,535
2020
6,818
18,825
13,534
23,023
36,486
32,562
36,500
32,983
28,786
27,625
19,685
11,796
275,733
12,890
288,623
2021
5,590
19,661
21,859
31,740
32,646
15,057
19,676
29,284
23,155
17,445
22,478
13,629
240,246
11,974
252,220
2022
11,226
22,714
24,675
28,162
35,889
31,176
22,998
19,173
24,216
27,802
19,032
11,973
273,694
5,352
279,046
Total
2,124,821
82,378
2,207,199
Ivanpah total (392 MW gross)
Net electricity production (all)
Year
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Sun
NG
Total
2014
10,485
9,630
19,959
24,833
44,784
64,275
35,967
44,070
43,751
56,013
47,177
18,141
419,085
0
419,085
2015
21,888
30,273
57,090
75,304
47,956
77,534
61,681
72,806
66,147
36,971
60,474
44,998
627,161
25,961
653,122
2016
25,439
67,254
58,409
38,449
43,436
65,721
98,849
65,631
82,215
61,312
62,052
34,272
670,575
32,464
703,039
2017
38,305
33,828
50,642
40,589
87,013
97,677
66,664
67,642
75,241
77,805
40,801
43,931
686,899
33,239
720,138
2018
48,873
43,963
59,181
62,060
76,438
115,737
63,197
78,754
91,706
62,396
57,871
35,860
761,489
34,367
795,856
2019
35,211
27,203
48,252
59,345
64,707
101,999
97,520
101,399
72,734
84,848
53,478
25,518
739,481
32,733
772,214
2020
35,348
41,830
33,378
66,895
107,822
96,616
113,893
101,134
86,025
81,562
58,688
33,110
815,817
40,484
856,301
2021
32,504
38,388
62,332
86,646
88,624
63,897
56,355
85,660
74,303
50,249
64,053
36,705
705,697
34,019
739,716
2022
43,807
41,072
64,782
81,546
91,519
96,092
64,359
53,081
65,191
81,999
51,920
33,796
752,624
16,540
769,164
Total
6,178,828
249,807
6,428,635
Ivanpah was advertised as designed to produce 940,000 MWh of electricity per year, based on its nameplate capacity and assumed capacity factor. In its second year of operation, Ivanpah's production of 653,122 MWh of net electricity was 69.5 percent of this value, ramping up from 44.6 percent in the first year. The commissioning of a new thermal plants requires up to four years to achieve 100% operating level, from the first grid connection to full production. In its seventh year (2020), the annual production was 91.1% of its advertised value.
Ivanpah total annual production
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Fossil fuel use
Ivanpah Solar's use of gas is as follows, expressed in million British thermal units (Btu) as reported. For comparison to the above charts, 1 MWh is about 3.4 million Btu.
^Sweet, Cassandra (12 June 2015). "High-Tech Solar Projects Fail to Deliver". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2017-03-09. Retrieved 2017-03-07. One big miscalculation was that the power plant requires far more steam to run smoothly and efficiently than originally thought, according to a document filed with the California Energy Commission. Instead of ramping up the plant each day before sunrise by burning one hour's worth of natural gas to generate steam, Ivanpah needs more than four times that much help from fossil fuels to get the plant humming every morning.
^Schlissel, David; Allison Smith; Rachel Wilson (July 2008). Coal-Fired Power Plant Construction Costs(PDF) (Technical report). Synapse Energy Economics, Inc. p. 8. Archived(PDF) from the original on 2014-06-30. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
^Schlissel, David; Bruce Biewald (July 2008). Nuclear Power Plant Construction Costs(PDF) (Technical report). Synapse Energy Economics, Inc. p. 9. Archived(PDF) from the original on 2014-05-12. Retrieved 2014-03-28.
^Sweet, Cassandra (12 June 2015). "High-Tech Solar Projects Fail to Deliver". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2017-03-09. Retrieved 2017-03-07. The $2.2 billion Ivanpah solar power project in California's Mojave Desert is supposed to be generating more than a million megawatt-hours of electricity each year. But 15 months after starting up, the plant is producing just 40% of that, according to data from the U.S. Energy Department
^"California Energy Commission"(PDF). Compliance Docket - Ivanpah Solar. California Energy Commission. Archived(PDF) from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
^"Avian & Bat Monitoring Plan"(PDF). California Energy Commission - Ivanpah Solar compliance. California Energy Commission. Archived(PDF) from the original on 11 September 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
^Sweet, Cassandra (June 12, 2015). "High-Tech Solar Projects Fail to Deliver". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on March 9, 2017. Retrieved March 7, 2017. Once built, U.S. government biologists found the plant's superheated mirrors were killing birds. In April, biologists working for the state estimated that 3,500 birds died at Ivanpah in the span of a year, many of them burned alive while flying through a part of the solar installment where air temperatures can reach 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.