Continuing Solar Fail
I have written a number of times about Ivanpah, the massive solar plant in California. The plant was funded with a $1.6 billion taxpayer loan, which the company that owns it has since petitioned to be turned in part into a complete giveaway. The plant is a like a giant bird microwave oven, and its owners would owe literally hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fines if they were fined for bird kills at the same rate as a company like Exxon is.
Now, apparently the plant is in danger of being cut off by PG&E, who contracted to buy its power, because it is substantially under-producing its commitments. The other day it got a temporary reprieve. But Anthony Watt notices from recent filings:
Nameplate capacity = 370 MW.
Expected average energy generation per year = 1,000,000 MWh.
This means average power output is 114 MW (about 1/10th of a new nuclear plant).
Capacity factor is 31%.
Cost = US $2.2 billion = $19/Watt average power delivered.This is around 3x the cost of some recent nuclear power plant builds that most environmentalists have accused of being prohibitively expensive.....
The power plant area that had to be bulldozed over is 20x larger than a nuclear reactor of equivalent average (real) capacity.
