re: California to shutdown $2.2 billion solar plant that never lived up to its promises

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I’m also curious of the source of that 500,000,000 per year number. That seems exorbitantly high.

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It’s actually closer to 600 million. Maybe more. I have a home office with four 5x8 single window panes. Birds smack into them all the time. They’re usually ok but occasionally they’re stunned and lay on the ground for a while. If they were to hit a tall building they’d be dead when they hit the ground.

Mortality rate is the median value calculated from an estimate range in 2017.
Hazard
Deaths per year
Contribution to total deaths

Cats
2,400,000,000
1 in 1.4

Collisions - Building Glass
599,000,000
1 in 5.5

Collisions - Vehicles
214,500,000
1 in 15.5

Poison
72,000,000
1 in 46.2

Collisions - Electrical lines
25,500,000
1 in 130.4

Collisions - Communication towers
6,600,000
1 in 503.7

Electrocutions
5,600,000
1 in 593.6

Oil pits
750,000
1 in 4,432.1

Collisions - Onshore Wind Turbines
234,012
1 in 14,205.2
Source: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (2017)

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We need a Clames capacity factor drinking game but it might lead to alcohol poisoning.

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You can bury your head all you want, but the math doesn't lie...

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The area I live in is actively converting farm land into PV installations, doesn't seem to stop the utilities from passing rate increases every year then comimg back later stating yet another round of rate increases will be needed.

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Yep, but it ain’t from that $1.15/Wp solar farm.

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The area I live in is actively converting farm land into PV installations, doesn't seem to stop the utilities from passing rate increases every year then coming back later stating yet another round of rate increases will be needed.

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It’s not a cheaper energy source at the moment. A lot worse actually

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That's just a dumb statement. It did produce what it was projected to produce. After the first couple of years It was producing over 90% of projected capacity

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You sure about that?

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A notable example is the Ivanpah Solar Project, a $2.2 billion solar thermal facility in the Mojave Desert, which has struggled to meet energy production expectations and has had significant environmental impacts, including the annual incineration of thousands of birds. Despite federal support and initial optimism about solar thermal technology’s potential for baseload power, Ivanpah never exceeded 75% of its planned electricity output and continues to depend on natural gas to operate. PG&E recently announced it would stop purchasing power from Ivanpah, signaling the project’s shutdown well before its planned 2039 closure.

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LINK

ChatGPT and I’m on my phone so not posting all the links and excerpts but here’s the recap.

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Its expected output (capacity factor) was originally projected to be around 27–30% of capacity. In practice, it has usually operated well below that: • In its first full year (2014), Ivanpah only achieved about ~19% capacity factor. • In subsequent years, it improved somewhat, but generally averaged in the ~20–25% range, still below initial projections. • For comparison: in 2015, it produced about 653,000 MWh (roughly 19% capacity factor). In some later years it crept closer to 25%. So, to answer simply: ?? The Ivanpah plant has usually operated at around 20–25% of its expected capacity, which is lower than the ~30% originally forecast.

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It’s not a cheaper energy source at the moment. A lot worse actually

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Oh i know it isn't, and one good hail storm will probably be another excuse piled on among the others. Elon Musk is promising a large PV installation to support the Memphis-area supercomputing ventures. Like the gas-turbines they are currently relying on, the promise includes using a portion of what's generated to be fed back into the local grid for residents. Contrary to what some might think, I'm not against PV and will probably have a few for my outdoor storage shed and eventual shop, but I'm not deluding myself with what PV is able to deliver vs what is promised.

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I was actually one of the lead engineers on this project. Seems like so long ago.

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What went differently than you planned? Did you expect the mirrors to compete with solar panels in efficiency?

The people in charge so all of the money granted for this was appropriately laundered to it’s proper recipients, which was the intent all along.

Same thing with the railway system. Same thing with the reservoirs that don’t hold water. Soaking up that government money like a hoover vacuum.

A few reasons.

1 Cats and windows aren't new, they're just kind of here and have been for quite some time.

2 Wind farms at least (unsure of this solar farm) tend to kill a much higher % of raptors, birds that reproduce in much lower quantities and exist in much lower quantities than the typical window strike or cat death, which are almost wholly songbirds.

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I never understood this argument. Cats kill 1-4 billion birds per year. Glass windows kill another 500 million birds per year.

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I kill about 50 a year.