Solar plants are drying up
Ivanpah, which was once the world’s largest solar power plant of its type appears headed for closure just 11 years after opening, under pressure from cheaper green energy sources. It was supposed to last 50 years. (1)
The Ivanpah solar power plant formally opened in 2014 on roughly 5 square miles of federal land near the California-Nevada border. Though it was hailed at the time as a breakthrough moment for clean energy, its power has been struggling to compete with cheaper solar technologies.
President Obama once praised Ivanpah as a shining example of America’s clean energy future. “With projects like this one,” he said at the site of the solar plant just before construction started, “we’re putting Americans to work producing clean home-grown energy.” (2)
His Department of Energy showered $1.6 billion in loan guarantees, as well as $600 million in tax credits on the plant.
According to John Merline, it emits enough CO2 that it will “be required to participate in the state’s cap-and-trade program to reduce carbon emissions. In its first year, Ivanpah emitted 46,000 tons of CO2. That’s about as much as a Frito Lay plant in Bakersfield emits.
How is that possible? It turns out the Ivanpah plant uses natural gas to function. First, it burns natural gas to pre-heat the water at the top of the three towers before the sun comes up. Then, it has auxiliary gas boilers that kick in whenever cloud cover blocks the sun. (2)
Chris Clarke reports, “The projects managers originally estimated that the plant’s main auxiliary boilers would need to run an hour a day, on average, to allow the plant to capture solar energy efficiently. But after a few months of operation, they were saying they needed to burn more gas, with the boilers running an average of five hours a day. To that end, the companies asked the CEC to change the project’s license to allow Ivanpah to burn more than 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas a year, and the plant’s operators say that change won’t have any environmental impact. If the petition is approved, the plant would be allowed to use a quantity of natural gas that would have been enough to supply about 35,000 typical California households. The plant’s total CO2 footprint from burning natural gas would rise to just above 92,200 tons per year, approximately equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas output of 16,500 average passenger cars.” (3)
Yet, these days in various media, it is claimed that Ivanpah’s generation is believed to have prevented 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually. (4)
What other environmental concerns have been attributed to the solar plant? It has faced criticism from conservationists who argue it has harmed local wildlife. Environmental groups claim the plant’s intense solar reflectors have caused numerous bird deaths, with around 6,000 being incinerated mid-air every year. Additionally, concerns have been raised about its impact on the habitat of the threatened desert tortoise.
Another issue with Ivanpah related to the sun rays sent up by the field of mirrors that are bright enough to dazzle pilots flying in and out of Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The California Energy Commission (CEC) has received numerous pilot and air traffic controller glare-impact reports. The situation is serious because pilots report that they cannot scan the sky in that direction to look for other aircraft. According to an air traffic controller, “Daily during the late-morning and early-afternoon hours, we get complaints from pilots of aircraft flying from the northeast to the southwest about the brightness of this solar farm.” (5)
If the agreement to end its power contracts are finalized, one of Ivanpah’s owners, NRG Energy, has suggested the site may be repurposed for solar panels, but details on the decommissioning process and associated costs have not yet been disclosed. (6)
One of the largest residential solar installers, Sunnova, went belly up on June 8, 2025. The company had over $10 billion in debt and a market cap of over a billion dollars less than a year ago. While aggressive spending on expansion and poor management account for some of Sunnova’s problems, they also faced significant policy headwinds: high interest rates, higher costs due to inflation, uncertainty and higher cost due to tariffs, and freezing of Inflation Reduction Act subsidies. (7)
Cesar Barbosa says, “A bold prediction no one wants to hear. Half of all commercial solar systems installed before 2016 will be underperforming or non-operational by 2030. It is a silent crisis unfolding on rooftops across America.” (8)
SunPower, a major rooftop solar company, filed for bankruptcy in Delaware after a string of corporate struggles, changes to California’s rooftop solar subsidy programs and high interest rates weighed down its business. Before it unraveled, SunPower was among the leading solar companies in the US. (9)
Crescent Dunes, which the Department of Energy called the vast and expensive solar project a ‘success story’ and ‘milestone for the country’s future was a flop and lost $737 million. (10)
In 2011 Solyndra, which received a $535 million US Department of Energy loan guarantee under President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus program, filed for bankruptcy. Like with Ivanpah mentioned earlier, Obama praised this facility.
In spite of all this, the Bureau of Land Management is proposing to make 31 million acres across 11 western states available for solar energy development. (11)
A large number of environmental groups are upset with the plan, claiming that it will utterly destroy fragile desert ecosystems in the process. (11)
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