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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, @04:35PM
Which makes it more than a little strange that there is no video footage of it happening.
You are assuming that the plant owners would permit that footage to get out. A cynic would expect that that the federal wildlife investigators are contractually forbidden from releasing any videos filmed on the property.
but claims it threatens bats as well. Which would be quite difficult given that bats go out hunting for insects at night.
It is more of an exaggeration, googling reveals that they find 5-10 dead bats each month there. Bats don't wait until it is 100% dark to come out, given the scale of the plant, even 5% of its peak reflected energy could be dangerous if they are close to the focal point.
(Score: 2) by tathra on Thursday August 21 2014, @06:39PM
it doesn't matter. if it was really happening and people were honestly outraged at it (as opposed to standard FUD which just requires getting idiots to act on your behalf) they'd go out of their way to get a video of it happening out in the public, if for no other reason than "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" (and i assure you, "its lighting all the birds on fire!" is an extraordinary claim).
(Score: 2) by M. Baranczak on Thursday August 21 2014, @07:28PM
It is more of an exaggeration, googling reveals that they find 5-10 dead bats each month there.
A meaningless statistic. How many dead bats per month were they finding before the generator was built?
Bats don't wait until it is 100% dark to come out, given the scale of the plant, even 5% of its peak reflected energy could be dangerous if they are close to the focal point.
I don't know about the bats in that area, but here, they don't come out until well after the sun goes down. At that point, there's still light, but it's not coming from a single source, so the solar array wouldn't work. (As a matter of fact, these types of arrays don't work when it's cloudy, either.)
Bats do come out in the daytime when they're rabid, though.