World’s Largest Solar Plant just Torched Itself

Seems this happened yesterday, but nobody caught it or posted about it that I can tell.

Snippet from Article:

A small fire was reported yesterday morning at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System (ISEGS) in California, forcing a temporary shutdown of the facility. It’s now running at a third of its capacity (a second tower is down due to scheduled maintenance), and it’s not immediately clear when the damaged tower will restart. It’s also unclear how the incident will impact California’s electricity supply.

Seems they think it may have been Misaligned mirrors to blame. Doesn't sound like the firefighters had a easy time of it either. That sounds like a long climb only to get to the top and find the workers on site had managed to subdue the flames. Must have been a sigh of relief though.

Putting out the blaze was not easy task, either. Firefighters were forced to climb 300 feet up a boiler tower to get to the scene. Officials said the fire was located about two-thirds up the tower. Workers at the plant actually managed to subdue the flames by the time firefighters reached the spot, and it was officially extinguished about 20 minutes after it started.

Doesn't sound like it was sabotaged or anything, but when they say they are unclear about how it will effect the electric, you can bet someone's bill is going to go up quite a bit. With summer coming, I see some rolling brownouts heading California's way

LINK TO ARTICLE

a reply to: onehuman

Hi Onehuman, I like the thread!

The irony is too much.

Another failure in the making.

a reply to: Quantum12


Next electric bill you get, you may find yourself thinking back to this thread. lol good thing you liked it, though you may not like it so much after the bill.

Well how convenient ....

Obama-Backed Solar Plant Could Be Shut Down For Not Producing Enough Energy

from 2 months ago !!

California regulators may force a massive solar thermal power plant in the Mojave Desert to shut down after years of under-producing electricity — not to mention the plant was blinding pilots flying over the area and incinerating birds.

The Ivanpah solar plant could be shut down if state regulators don’t give it more time to meet electricity production promises it made as part of its power purchase agreements with utilities, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Ivanpah, which got a $1.6 billion loan guarantee from the Obama administration, only produced a fraction of the power state regulators expected it would. The plant only generated 45 percent of expected power in 2014 and only 68 percent in 2015, according to government data.

And it does all this at a cost of $200 per megawatt hour — nearly six times the cost of electricity from natural gas-fired power plants. Interestingly enough, Ivanpah uses natural gas to supplement its solar production.

a reply to: xuenchen

And there you have it.

a reply to: xuenchen


Maybe I need to rethink that sabotage statement that it didn't appear to be. Now we may very well have a conspiracy afoot eh?

a reply to: onehuman

Your right I will hate the bill!

a reply to: onehuman
I saw a short News Clip about a barn that caught on fire due to a shaving mirror left outside in the sun (concave mirror)

originally posted by: ugmold
a reply to: onehuman
I saw a short News Clip about a barn that caught on fire due to a shaving mirror left outside in the sun (concave mirror)

Got a link?

And yet hundreds of square miles didn't have to be evacuated. That's definitely an advantageous aspect of solar energy.

originally posted by: xuenchen

originally posted by: ugmold
a reply to: onehuman
I saw a short News Clip about a barn that caught on fire due to a shaving mirror left outside in the sun (concave mirror)

Got a link?

Found one, I heard it in passing originally on TV. It was a house not Barn.
www.sfgate.com...

a reply to: ugmold

That was a hot one wasn't it.

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I think then the world is very lucky, running on power from nuclear power plants and coal-fired power plants that never had any issues, till today!

What a luck that we don´t way have to pay more for electricity than needed, because of the non-existence of greed from only the owners of nuclear and coal-fired power corporations!

What a luck that there is not nearly weakly a shutdown of nuclear power plants in the western world reported, because of missmanagement, because many of these plants are way too old and have never been secure!

What a luck that coal-fired power plants aren´t a threat for the earth!

And guess who will have to pay the bill for all that, like for everything else?

So, if i could choose, i would take rather the self torching solar power plant than a Tschernobyl or Fukushima that i have to pay the bills for!