POLITICS THREAD

On another note:

Officials have permanently shut down the $2.2 billion Ivanpah Solar Power Facility in California’s Mojave Desert, admitting the project never lived up to its promises. Once hailed as a breakthrough in renewable energy, the plant also drew criticism for killing an estimated 6,000 birds each year.

https://x.com/rawsalerts/status/1970628359685115975
I know the big solar project in Gila Bend in AZ has never really performed up to its intended output wither
 
On another note:

Officials have permanently shut down the $2.2 billion Ivanpah Solar Power Facility in California’s Mojave Desert, admitting the project never lived up to its promises. Once hailed as a breakthrough in renewable energy, the plant also drew criticism for killing an estimated 6,000 birds each year.

https://x.com/rawsalerts/status/1970628359685115975
sad thing is how much of our taxes went to that? and who got rich off the whole thing? and how do we prevent this from happening again?
 
sad thing is how much of our taxes went to that? and who got rich off the whole thing? and how do we prevent this from happening again?
My work made parts for those plants and the molten salt that was supposed to do something was where we had issues i believe. Did these plants ever make any energy, or was it a failure since day 1?

Is 2.2 Billion really that big a deal when we are sending places like Ukraine and Israel that probably on average weekly?
 
We had to review/cover the ivanpah plant as part of my apprenticeship at work.
Thing was a total sham from the start - burned more natural gas than a "standard" gas-fired plant to try to generate the same amount of power. Apparently the engineers didnt account for the possibility of clouds in the desert (which DO occur *gasp*) so if clouds passed by, the generation would nose-dive. Killed birds by the hundreds in the beginning until birds started realizing they needed to avoid the area entirely... still kills birds regularly though, totaling thousands of birds killed over the years (known as "streamers" by the guys onsite). Displaced hundreds of desert tortoises to build that abomination (yet off roaders are the ones the tree-huggers like to claim are killing the tortoises. But its OK to kill them if its in the name of being 'green'), which led to the deaths of many of the displaced juveniles. The thing has NEVER met its claimed output goals and is a complete failure. Fuck that eyesore in the ear and good riddance.
#makehydropowergreatagain
 
From what I know on how the Ivanpah plant worked, it used the reflective sun rays to superheat the middle tower which held salt. The salt in turn would go into a molten state. The molten salt was used to boil water for steam and the steam was used to power steam powered generators. The unique concept about this plant in particular was that the molten salt was supposed to keep hot enough to keep the steam powered generators turning throughout the night so that this plant could provide power 24-hours a day.

From the looks of it's current state, not-so-much.
 
From what I know on how the Ivanpah plant worked, it used the reflective sun rays to superheat the middle tower which held salt. The salt in turn would go into a molten state. The molten salt was used to boil water for steam and the steam was used to power steam powered generators. The unique concept about this plant in particular was that the molten salt was supposed to keep hot enough to keep the steam powered generators turning throughout the night so that this plant could provide power 24-hours a day.

From the looks of it's current state, not-so-much.
I dont know for sure since Ive never stepped foot on that site, but we were told its a conventional steam plant and the collectors were boiling water (not the collectors themselves). Again, I dont know that information to be 100% correct or not. All I know is that its an embarrassment to power generation everywhere.
 
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