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AP reports that wildlife investigators who watched as birds burn and fell at the Ivanpah Dry Lake Solar Tower Plant are urging California officials to halt the operator's application to build a still-bigger version until the full extent of the deaths can be assessed. Estimates per year now range from a low of about a thousand "streamers" by the plant operator to 28,000 by an expert for the Center for Biological Diversity environmental group. Those statistics haven’t curbed the enthusiasm of the Obama administration for the solar-power plant, which granted Ivanpah a $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee. The deaths are "alarming. It's hard to say whether that's the location or the technology," says Garry George, renewable-energy director for the California chapter of the Audubon Society. "There needs to be some caution." Federal wildlife officials say the plant might act as a "mega-trap" for wildlife, with the bright light of the plant attracting insects, which in turn attract insect-eating birds that fly to their death in the intensely focused light rays.
The $2.2 billion plant at Ivanpah Dry Lake near the California-Nevada border is the world's biggest plant to employ so-called power towers. More than 300,000 mirrors, each the size of a garage door, reflect solar rays onto three boiler towers each looming up to 40 stories high. The water inside is heated to produce steam, which turns turbines that generate enough electricity for 140,000 homes. While biologists say there is no known feasible way to curb the number of birds killed, the companies behind the projects say they are hoping to find one — studying whether lights, sounds or some other technology would scare them away, says Joseph Desmond, senior vice president at BrightSource Energy. Power-tower proponents are fighting to keep the deaths from forcing a pause in the building of new plants when they see the technology on the verge of becoming more affordable and accessible (PDF). When it comes to powering the country's grids, "diversity of technology ... is critical," says Thomas Conroy, a renewable-energy expert. "Nobody should be arguing let's be all coal, all solar," all wind, or all nuclear. "And every one of those technologies has a long list of pros and cons."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 21 2014, @01:10PM
I'd love to build a solar accumulator that also incinerated outdoor cats. WTF are the pet owners thinking?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Vanderhoth on Thursday August 21 2014, @01:26PM
I honestly don't know. I have cats, but they're indoor pets. Cats are a huge problem in cities, not just because of the wildlife they kill. People need to neuter their pets and/or keep them inside.
On the other hand, I work near a dockyard, one year they (the city) deiced to capture and euthanize the strays around here and our rat population jumped through he roof. Now we capture, neuter and release cats because they're really the only thing keeping the rats, and I don't mean politicians, from taking over the city... Now if only we could reduce the politician population...
"Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe
(Score: 1) by zugedneb on Thursday August 21 2014, @03:11PM
Until age of 13 i was living in Romania... I remember, there were clouds of sparrows and pigeons...
but also there were insects... many many insects... Also many stray cats and dogs.
The place was dirty, the grass uncut, the bushes and trees grew wild as the lord made them, and debry everywhere...
Now, i have lived in sweden for 25 years, and here is the thing:
Few pigeons, very few sparrows, no insects...
The place is surgically clean, the grass 30 +- 2 mm, no debry in sight...
Makes u think, yes?
old saying: "a troll is a window into the soul of humanity" + also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ajax
(Score: 2) by Vanderhoth on Thursday August 21 2014, @03:31PM
Yeah, one extreme to the other. I personally like the birds, we have a lot of sparrows, chickadees, and Robins here, but I love the Cardinals and Bluejays... Not the baseball teams though. ;)
"Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday August 21 2014, @04:36PM
Possible explanation: It's too bloody cold in Sweden for those animals to live there!
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by opinionated_science on Thursday August 21 2014, @06:52PM
yes, that mortality was probably not so good in Romania...
Then again, Sweden has a vastly different ecology? Romania is almost Mediterranean (borders the Black sea).