Project No Project: Ivanpah Solar Power Project, Bright Source Energy, San Bernardino County

BOONDOGGLE CA GREEN ENERGY PROJECT #1. I CANNOT EVEN BEGIN TO DESCRIBE ALL THE NEGATIVES OF THIS MASSIVE, WASTEFUL ,SCAM-RIDDEN ,OVER-HYPED GREEN ENERGY PROJECT SO I WILL BLAST THIS PROJECT LATER IN THE POST.

Project No Project: Ivanpah Solar Power Project, Bright Source Energy, San Bernardino County


STATUS: In progress

TYPE: Solar

OPPOSITION: Various environmentalist groups (not specified in source materials)

PROSPECTS: Indeterminate

BACKGROUND: BrightSource is currently developing its first solar power complex in California’s Mojave Desert. The $3 billion Ivanpah Solar Power Complex will be located in Ivanpah, approximately 50 miles northwest of Needles, California, and about five miles from the California-Nevada border. The complex will be a 6-square mile facility (4065 acres) within the 25,000-square mile Mojave Desert and will generate enough electricity to power 140,000 homes and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by more than 500,000 tons per year. According to BrightSource, the Ivanpah Solar Power Complex will nearly double the amount of solar thermal electricity produced today in the U.S.

According to a preliminary assessment, construction will require an average of 474 daily construction workers and a peak daily workforce of 959. Once completed, the project would provide a total of about $5.4 million (2007 dollars) in operational payroll at an average salary of $60,000 per year for an estimated 90 full-time employees.
The presence of Desert Tortoises in Ivanpah and regulatory requirements to mitigate environmental impacts are delaying the construction of the solar plant, as Bright Source is burdened with the task of relocating about 26 tortoises before gaining the permission to proceed with construction. Delays not only stall construction but might also endanger the company’s opportunity to use stimulus dollars to fund the project. A company spokesman said, “We want to take advantage of as many stimulus dollars as there are available to these packages, and there is a very important imperative and that is that the projects begin construction in 2010, to have that money available.”
LINKS: Bright Source Energy http://www.brightsourceenergy.com/projects/ivanpah; USC News http://news21.uscannenberg.org/index.php/clairewe/story/the_tortoise_and_the_sun_environmental_hurdles_of_the_largest_solar_project/; CalFinder http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/solar-politics/endangered-desert-tortoise-must-flee-the-advance-of-solar/; Preliminary Staff Assessment http://www.energy.ca.gov/2008publications/CEC-700-2008-013/CEC-700-2008-013-PSA.PDF