this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2025
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A large solar plant in California is closing – what does it mean for solar power? (science.feedback.org)
submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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  • Ivanpah relies on a type of solar power called concentrated solar power (CSP), which generates electricity by reflecting sunlight upon a central location to heat a fluid and spin a turbine.
  • Although many online claims imply that Ivanpah’s closure reflects poorly on solar power as a whole, these claims are misleading. CSP plants operate very differently from the more common photovoltaic (PV) solar panels.
  • When Ivanpah was built in the early 2010s, both CSP and PV were relatively expensive. In the decade since, costs of both have plummeted, but solar PV has become significantly cheaper than CSP.
  • Even if Ivanpah does close, CSP plants continue to operate elsewhere in the U.S. and the world.
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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If I remember correctly this was a scam anyways as it needed a lot of natural gas to pre-heat the central tower in the morning or so. So on less sunny days it was net-negative energy wise. But I might remember wrong.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

You're remembering correctly.