Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System
| Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System | |
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Looking north towards Ivanpah Facility's eastern boiler tower from Interstate 15.
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 Location of Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California
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| Country | United States |
| Location | near Ivanpah, San Bernardino County, California |
| Coordinates | 35°34′N 115°28′W / 35.57°N 115.47°WCoordinates: 35°34′N 115°28′W / 35.57°N 115.47°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Construction began | 2010 |
| Commission date | 2014 |
| Construction cost | $2.2 billion |
| Owner(s) |
NRG Energy BrightSource Energy |
| Solar field | |
| Type | CSP |
| CSP technology | Solar power tower |
| Collectors | 173,500 |
| Site area | 3,500 acres (1,420 ha) |
| Site resource | 2,717 kW·h/m2/yr |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | 3 |
| Make and model | Siemens SST-900 |
| Nameplate capacity | Unit 1: 126 MW Units 2 and 3: 133 MW each. Planned: 392 MW gross, 377 MW net |
| Capacity factor | 19.7% (2015 actual) / 31% (Planned) |
| Planned gross output | 940 GW·h |
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Website ivanpahsolar |
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The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is a concentrated solar thermal plant in the Mojave Desert. Located at the base of Clark Mountain in California, just over the state line between Primm, Nevada and Nipton, California, the plant has a gross capacity of 392 megawatts (MW). It deploys 173,500 heliostats, each with two mirrors, focusing solar energy on boilers located on three centralized solar power towers. Unit 1 of the project was connected to the grid in September 2013 in an initial sync testing. The facility formally opened on February 13, 2014, and it is currently the world's largest solar thermal power station.
The project was developed by BrightSource Energy and Bechtel. It costs $2.2 billion; the largest investor in the project is NRG Energy, a power generating company based in Princeton, New Jersey, that has contributed $300 million. Google has contributed $168 million.; the U.S. government provided a $1.6 billion loan guarantee, and the plant is built on public land. In 2010, the project was scaled back from the original 440 MW design, to avoid building on the habitat of the desert tortoise.
In November 2014, Associated Press reported that the plant 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 considerably in 2015 — to about 650 GW·h, but ownership partner 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 contracted to receive 640 GW·h/year from Units 1 and 3, while SCE is supposed to receive 336 GW·h from Unit 2, for which they pay about $200/MW·h (20¢/kW·h). 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.
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