Plant	Ivanpah
Location	Primm, NV California US
Owner(s)	NRG, Brightsource, Google
Capacity (MW)	377
Generation Start Year	2014
Closure Time	May 19- June 8, 2016
Construction Cost ($)	$2.2 billion
Specific Cost ($/kW)	6206.6
LCOE ($/kWh)	0.19
Heliostat Aperture Area (m²)	14.05
Heliostat Manufacturer	BrightSource
Heliostat Model	BrightSource
Mirror Manufacturer	Guardian USA
Mirror Model	EcoGuard Solar Boost
Heliostat Dimension	4.55m x 3m
Heliostat Facets (C x R)	2 col x 1 row
Solar Field Area (m²)	2.6 million
Heliostat Cost pm² ($)	338.46
Tower Height (m)	140
Receiver Fluid	Water
Receiever Manufacturer	Riley USA
Receiver Model	Solar Receiver Steam Generator
Number of Heliostats	173500

General Plant Data

·         Location: Primm, NV California US

·         Owner(s): NRG, Brightsource, Google

·         Capacity (MW): 377

Plant Timeline

·         Generation Start Year: 2014

·         Closure Time: May 19- June 8, 2016

Plant Costs

·         Construction Cost ($): $2.2 billion

·         Specific Cost ($/kW): 6206.6

·         LCOE ($/kWh): 0.19

Heliostat Design

·         Heliostat Aperture Area (m²): 14.05

·         Heliostat Manufacturer: BrightSource

·         Heliostat Model: BrightSource

·         Mirror Manufacturer: Guardian USA

·         Mirror Model: EcoGuard Solar Boost

·         Heliostat Dimension: 4.55m x 3m

·         Heliostat Facets (C x R): 2 col x 1 row

·         Solar Field Area (m²): 2.6 million

·         Heliostat Cost pm² ($): 338.46

Tower/Receiver

·         Tower Height (m): 140

·         Receiver Fluid: Water

·         Receiever Manufacturer: Riley USA

·         Receiver Model: Solar Receiver Steam Generator

Plant Layout

·         Number of Heliostats: 173500

Lessons Learned

Ivanpah uses natural gas to maintain peak power generation during times of intermittent clouds. Without natural gas the steam turbines could go offline. This allows electricity production to start up more quickly when the sun rises each morning. Ivanpah has increased its amount of natural gas use. It is reported that Ivanpah is using approximately 1.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas per year. Only 5% of Ivanpah’s electrical generation is from daylight burning of natural gas, according to the California Energy Commission.
There are operational and technical  difficulties with the plant. There is a need for auxiliary gas boilers for the natural gas from unpredicted cloud cover in 5.37 square miles of the solar region.
Though it is estimated that Ivanpah generally saves about 500,000 tons of CO2 annually it is still emitting CO2. In 2015, the emissions were at 68,676 metric tons. This is more than twice the pollution threshold for power plants in California to be required to participate in the state cap and trade program. 

Source: Tharp, Jacob, and Kevin R. Anderson. "Simulation and Lessons Learned from the Ivanpah Solar Plant Project." American Solar Energy Society National Solar Conference. 2018.

Plant Generation

Other Sources:

[1] “Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System | Concentrating Solar Power Projects | NREL.” Solarpaces.nrel.gov, solarpaces.nrel.gov/project/ivanpah-solar-electric-generating-system.

Link: https://solarpaces.nrel.gov/project/ivanpah-solar-electric-generating-system