Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Report: SolarReserve's 1 Billion Solar Plant Was Obsolete Before It Went Online

A new report, published by Bloomberg, says that the concentrating solar power (CSP) plant built by Los Angeles-based SolarReserve was essentially obsolete before it even went online. The plant--built with more than $1 billion--uses a giant array of mirrors to heat up molten salt, which can be used to store power even after the sun goes down. The problem? Apparently, the cost of operation of the plant is about $135 per megawatt hour, compared with less than $30 per megawatt hour for a photovoltaic solar farm, according to the report.