World's Largest, 392MW Solar Power Plant Opens For Business In California

Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System built by California based BrightSource Energy has began capturing solar energy and converting it into useful electric energy. The plant will output 392 MW of power, making it the world's largest solar power plant. The company, through its official blog notified that the plant is capable of providing electricity to about 140,000 homes in California; allowing to save about 400,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year. The saving would be equivalent to eliminating about 72,000 automobiles from the roads.

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Image Credit: BrightSource Energy Inc.​
The project has been backed by the trio (Google, NRG and BrightSource Energy) committed to producing clean energy. The overall engineering of the solar plant has been handled by Bechtel and has received a commitment of about $1.6 billion from the US Department Of Energy.

The Ivanpah solar plant comprises of three 450 foot tall towers that gather the Sun rays reflected from circular arrays of 173,500 reflecting mirrors (heliostats) spread across 5.5 sq.miles. These heliostats continuously follow the Sun's trajectory using an automated system controlled by sophisticated computer algorithms. Check out this introduction video of the plant -


​Though the plant is an important milestone in United States' clean energy drive; it's not being nice to the birds flying in the vicinity. The heat surrounding the towers can reach to about 1000 degree Fahrenheits. The company has reported that it's found several dead birds in the last few months of testing the plant. The regulators did expect that a few birds would get killed; but underestimated the overall number. NRG's spokesperson, Jeff Holland has said that the company does not have enough data to arrive at a definitive conclusion about overall impact of the plant on the avian species in the longer run. The company however is confident that they'll be able to solve this problem for their next big solar power plant planned in California.

We'd like to ask all our engineers about a possible solution they might want to offer to solve this problem.

Earlier Coverage (2011): <a href="https://www.crazyengineers.com/threads/startup-brightsource-to-build-the-largest-solar-thermal-station.64194">Startup Brightsource To Build The Largest Solar Thermal Station</a>.
Recommended Read: <a href="https://www.crazyengineers.com/threads/worlds-largest-solar-power-plant-to-be-built-in-rajasthan-india.70800">World's largest solar power plant to be built in Rajasthan, India</a>.

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  • Chaitanya Kukde
    Chaitanya Kukde

    @chaitanya-kukde-yk3G31 • Feb 13, 2014

    Maybe they should use the techniques that are deployed at airports to keep birds away

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  • Kaustubh Katdare
    Kaustubh Katdare

    @thebigk • Feb 13, 2014

    Chaitanya KukdeMaybe they should use the techniques that are deployed at airports to keep birds away

    It's not very effective, I think. Maybe a few sonic transmitters that'd emit frequencies that'd repel birds. The birds in the desert should have a few special capabilities for tolerating the heat to a greater extent, I guess.

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  • Chaitanya Kukde
    Chaitanya Kukde

    @chaitanya-kukde-yk3G31 • Feb 13, 2014

    Kaustubh KatdareIt's not very effective, I think. Maybe a few sonic transmitters that'd emit frequencies that'd repel birds. The birds in the desert should have a few special capabilities for tolerating the heat to a greater extent, I guess.

    I'm not too sure I fully agree with you... Bird in deserts definitely could tolerate more heat, but a thousand fahrenheit heat ball a few meters from ground could make the surrounding space like a floating furnace

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  • Kaustubh Katdare
    Kaustubh Katdare

    @thebigk • Feb 13, 2014

    Yeah 1000F would roast them in the sky. Finding the fix should have been the first priority of the designers.

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  • Rajni Jain
    Rajni Jain

    @rajni-E46Rlm • Feb 13, 2014

    World's Largest Solar Power Plant - 392MW, Opens For Business In California.

    This will save 400,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year. The saving would be equivalent to eliminating about 72,000 automobiles from the roads.

    Bow Down !!
    I would request all of you to Like and share this engineering effort towards mankind.

    On the engineering side of it, Engineers are giving some efforts to generate solar power using the cells that will keep the outer environment cool, and still generate the energy.

    What it will take to have these facilities / experiments in developing countries like India?

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  • Kaustubh Katdare
    Kaustubh Katdare

    @thebigk • Feb 13, 2014

    Rajni JainWhat it will take to have these facilities / experiments in developing countries like India?

    Did you read the links at the bottom of the article? Rajasthan is already developing a power plant way bigger than this. Also a huge solar power plant is operational in Gujarat; and they took a very innovative approach to the design of the plant - by fitting the mirrors over the unused space over the canal; allowing for greater reduction in the evaporation of water flowing through.

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  • Kaustubh Katdare
    Kaustubh Katdare

    @thebigk • Feb 13, 2014

    Solar Power Plants in India: <a href="https://www.crazyengineers.com/threads/solar-farms-in-india-list-cost-and-potential-discussion.59352">Solar Farms in India - List, Cost And Potential : Discussion</a>

    - And discussion about Gujarat Solar Plant -

    <a href="https://www.crazyengineers.com/threads/solar-power-cells-over-water-bodies-narmada-canal-gujarat.52581">Solar Power Cells Over Water Bodies [Narmada Canal, Gujarat]</a>

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  • Rajni Jain
    Rajni Jain

    @rajni-E46Rlm • Feb 13, 2014

    Kaustubh KatdareDid you read the links at the bottom of the article? Rajasthan is already developing a power plant way bigger than this.

    Though my location at CE reads as 'CE Farm'; my native place on the earth is Rajasthan and its hardly 150 Km away from the place where this Sambhar Lake is. I have visited the site few months back and believe me, It is gonna take some time before the full capacity will be reached for this project may be 10 years from now... and during that time you never know where the technology would be.

    Gujrat's Solar plant is impressive but it's capacity is not huge. My whole point was for capacity that can help developing countries.

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  • b.sathiyaseelan
    b.sathiyaseelan

    @bsathiyaseelan-3hfJ2a • Feb 14, 2014

    itz amazing technology...

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