A federally backed, $2.2 billion solar project in the California desert isn’t producing the electricity it is contractually required to deliver to PG&E Corp., which says the solar plant may be forced to shut down if it doesn’t receive a break Thursday from state regulators.
The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, owned by BrightSource Energy Inc., NRG Energy Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, uses more than 170,000 mirrors mounted to the ground to reflect sunlight to 450-foot-high towers topped by boilers that heat up to create steam, which in turn is used to generate electricity.Well, duh. The technology is immature, the concept is silly, and the only thing governments are really good at is malinvestment. But of course, as we all know, government's solution to problems it creates is to double down, triple down, etc.. The plant will undoubtedly be given a pass, and continue on it's quest to eliminate all avian life in California.
