Solar PV contracts are now cheaper than natural gas plants in the US, where even some utilities see a future where there will be no more gas turbines.
In 2015, PG&E customers received about 97% of Ivanpah’s contracted electrons. But what exactly were the engineering challenges at Ivanpah – and why did they take a year to solve?
Despite some alarmist headlines from solar-hater, the decision by California’s energy regulator to give the Ivanpah solar tower facility more time to reach targets makes sense. They are 97% there already.
SolarReserve’s break-through Crescent Dunes solar tower with thermal storage has successfully generated electricity at its full 110MW capacity.
Ivanpah has almost doubled its output in the first 6 months of 2015, to 309,288 MWh, compared to the same 6-month period in its first year.
The solution to a serious problem discovered last year at Ivanpah — the first solar power tower in the US — actually has turned out to be “one weird trick.”