World's Largest Solar Power Plant Scorching Birds

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System officially opened last week, a $2.2 billion solar farm containing about 350,000 mirrors, each the size of a garage door. Those mirrors are aimed at three 40-story-tall towers. The concentrated sunlight boils water in the towers, which in turn generates steam that drives special turbines. For birds, the towers are more like the Eye of Sauron. During test runs at the plant over the past several months, workers discovered dozens of dead birds, the Wall Street Journal’s Cassandra Sweet reported. “The dead birds included a peregrine falcon, a grebe, two hawks, four nighthawks and a variety of warblers and sparrows.” They appeared to have been scorched.  This system has the capacity to generate 392 megawatts — enough to power 140,000 homes annually, according to developer BrightSource Energy. Plans are in the works to build another plant near Joshua Tree, but biologists warned regulators that it could kill golden eagles and other protected birds, the WSJ reported. So far the only plan to address the problem is a two-year study. Ivanpah’s solar concentration system must have seemed competitive before construction began in 2010. But the new plant is already being called irrelevant. Business Insider’s Rob Wile noted that the new Antelope Valley Solar Ranch photovoltaic array will generate 1.5-times as much power as Ivanpah. Without the steam...more

Its not solar power, its frying power...otherwise known as CFC (California Fried Chicken).