BrightSource's Ivanpah solar project approved by California Energy Commission

BrightSource Energy's controversial Ivanpah solar project is rounding the bend toward the finish line, getting clearance Wednesday from the California Energy Commission to start construction.

If the company also gets approval in the coming weeks from the federal Bureau of Land Management, it could break ground this fall on the planned 370-megawatt Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System.

The project, slated for a patch of the Mojave Desert near Primm, Nev., is expected to nearly double the amount of solar thermal electricity currently being produced in the U.S., the commission said. The energy coming out will be enough to power 140,000 homes while creating more than 1,000 local jobs at the height of construction.

It hasn't been an easy process for BrightSource, which has had to battle environmentalists and politicians along the way. The intended 3,600-acre site was trimmed down from an original plan for 4,073 acres producing 440 megawatts after complaints about potential effects on the endangered desert tortoise population.

The company agreed to fund some desert conservation projects and avoid harmful land-grading techniques to mount its mirrors. The Ivanpah site also plans to use an air-cooling system that is expected to suck up 95% less of the dwindling water supplies that many other solar projects use.

Last year, BrightSource ditched a proposed solar project in the eastern part of the Mojave Desert after feuding with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who wanted to turn the area into a national monument. Earlier this year, however, the federal Department of Energy granted BrightSource a conditional loan guarantee for $1.37 billion to support financing on the Ivanpah project.

The three separate solar thermal plants that will make up the facility will use a field of mirrors that focus the sun's rays onto a central "power tower," heating liquid inside to make steam that will power a turbine.

Power will be sold under separate contracts with Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which will snatch up about two-thirds of the energy, and Southern California Edison, which will pick up the rest. Bechtel Construction Co. signed a labor agreement in 2009 to build the arrays.

The Ivanpah installation is one of several solar thermal proposals jostling for approval in order to take advantage of federal stimulus funds before they expire at the end of the year. Together, the arrays would infuse the California electricity grid with about 4,300 megawatts.

The California Energy Commission has already advanced the 250-megawatt Beacon project, the 250-megawatt Mojave Solar Project and the 1,000-megawatt Blythe Solar Power Project. The 750-megawatt Imperial Project and the 250-megawatt Genesis Project are next in line.

-- Tiffany Hsu

Photo: Attorney Brendan R. Cummings, with the Center For Biological Diversity, G.Sidney Silliman, with the Sierra Club, and Jim Andre, a researcher with UC Riverside, stand in the area where the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System is proposed to be built in the Mojave Desert. Credit: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[mtdana]

Brightsource? Not a very bright idea destroying Ivanpah Valley for this project. Yes we need more solar and green energy projects. We have plenty of beat up ground in the mojave but we choose Ivanpah? Worst environmental decision by the Obama admistration that I think we will regret. Dissappointing.

[California Solar Engineering]

Like I've said many times and will continue saying- the more solar the better we all are. The less dependent on turmoil international relations and the more jobs and income for us- Well done California, I'm proud to be working for the same goal.

[Electrician In Los Angeles]

This is great! A huge solar project that will be great for the economy, give jobs, and also help produce clean energy for the future. Good job PGE

[save the deserts!]

Oh, and today, they finally admitted that they are preparing an IPO for next year, more than 3 years before the thing ever produces any power.

Private (corporate) investors chipped in 330 million and taxpayers chipped in 1.75 BILLION without being asked. The private investors (Chevron, BP, Morgan Stanley, etc.) have equity shares but the taxpayers - paying for 85% of the project - have only debt, so we will not get any of the windfall profits from the IPO. If we are very lucky, we will get $1.3 billion back (the half a million more was just a gift from taxpayers to Chevron).

This has never been about solar power, saving the planet (for one thing, it will INCREASE GHG EMISSIONS FOR YEARS), or putting people to work. This was all about leveraging American tax dollars into huge, fast corporate profits with no risk to the corporations.

Someone at the LAT should be looking into this...

[green inventions]

We're still not moving forward fast enough with these renewable energy policies. It's been 30 years of a lot of megawords but not a lot of megawatts. Greenhouse gas emissions must to be stabilized by 2015 (See http://www.global-warming-forecasts.com/2015-climate-change-global-warming-2015.php ) Our scientists are so worried about being tagged as "alarmists" that they end up underestimating impact timelines again and again (see e.g., http://www.global-warming-forecasts.com/arctic-ice-free-arctic-climate-change.php ).

Hume Bennett
Clarksville, Iowa

[save the deserts!]

jt, since you are so smart, why not tell the whole class how much foreign oil this project will prevent from being purchased by Americans?

really? none? and no coal either? because it can only offset load-following electrical power like gas and hydro? hmmmm.

and how about jobs? can you please explain to the class how many "green" jobs (dynamiting, bulldozing, trenching the gas line, etc.) Big Solar creates compared to rooftop solar?

we can wait.

OK, here's the answer, half as many, according to CARB in their June 1 2010 report. that's HALF as many. Big Wind? 1/3 as many jobs as rooftop solar.

In other words, maybe it's being SMART to do things right for both the economy and the environment, instead of just rattle off bumper sticker platitudes and insult people who bother to learn the truth.

Local, democratically owned clean power production supported by feed in tariffs is fast, clean, affordable and more of the money goes to local jobs and local homeowners instead of executive bonuses and offshored corporations. Nothing is killed or wasted or ruined. Why does that bug you so much?

[Grant Luna]

It is about time! The same politicians who started this recession and failed to stop it act in concert with enviornmentalists to prevent job growth. Politicians have given enough money to banks for greedy corrupt practices, inefficient manufacturers, and government agencies to waste. Funding projects that puts construction workers back to work to rebuild the economy and the enviornment is the key to any recovery. The billions wasted in Tarp Dollars will never be seen again. Money put into construction projects like this yields immediate and long term gains for the economy and workers. Thank you for the good news and unbiased reporting.

[jt]

Yes, hurray, renewable energy, green jobs, less dependance on foreign oil! Oh wait, you mean we're going to kill some lizards and harm the fragile desert eco system? Well then you can just forget it mister because when the rubber hits the road, it turns out politicians and environmentalist are some of the biggest HYPOCRITES who walk the planet.

[save the deserts!]

This is just such a SCAM.

First of all, let's examine who the "investors" are. Hmmm. Chevron. BP. Oooh, StatOil - they're the ones doing the devastating Tar Sands oil extraction! Total environmentalists! Oh, Morgan Stanley. Awesome. But wait, when I say "investor," what do I mean, since the TAXPAYER IS PICKING UP THE ENTIRE TAB, PLUS LOSING NEARLY 10,000 ACRES OF OUR PRISTINE PUBLIC LAND? So, by "investor," I guess that describes the mercenaries lined up to make a boatload of money in the IPO next year, well before the disastrous failure and waste of this project becomes known. Sounds fair. We pay, they collect. We lose a bunch of land and water and get nothing. They get billions. Plus War Profiteers Bechtel get in on the action.

You realize that we could have 210,000 houses outfitted with full rooftop solar systems (and zero out their energy bills for the next 30+ years) for the same cost as this boondoggle, right? Instead, we will have ZERO houses with solar panels, and 20 years of extremely expensive power for a hugely optimistic 140,000 houses. Gee, that sounds like a GREAT use of my tax dollars. Thanks so much!

The entire environmental community agrees this is one of the worst sites and the most harmful projects on the books, but that won't stop them because they just appointed Big Energy Sellout John Bryson (founder of sellout NRDC) as chairman, and already have RFK, Jr. as spokesmodel. So, the greenwashing is so deep, we are drowning in it. We were all told from Day One that "this one is going through no matter how bad it is" so we should save our breath objecting to it. Isn't that interesting?

Everyone is aware that all their 200 employees are in ISRAEL, right? So this is another overseas company getting billions of US Tax dollars to kill our wilderness for money, while hugely overcharging ratepayers for what little power it will produce.

And you realize that for the next 4+ years, this project will cause a HUGE spike in GHG emissions, so it is unlikely that it will ever offset ANY GHGs from any fossil fuel plant (which one is closing?? ah, right, none).

Why doesn't anyone report the truth instead of copying and pasting from press releases?

[Damen Brazen]

Loss of habitat (not global warming) is what is causing the current mass extinction of species. While it is good to see some compromises made in the Ivanpah project, such as reduced site grading, there will still be new roads and fences and power lines and other impediments to wildlife.

It is interesting to note that all this work is being done on public lands that private companies use for basically free, yet we still have to pay for the power at "market rates." No rebates for us OR the tortoise, it seems.

How about using already degraded lands closer to where the power is actually consumed? Like all those warehouse roofs east of downtown Los Angeles, or on any new building projects? That way we wouldn't need to build new transmission lines and we could actually let the energy market see true price signals.