THE WORLD’S LARGEST SOLAR THERMAL PLANT OPENS AMIDST DOUBTS

The future of solar thermal

The picture of the array and its claim to fame as the world’s biggest solar thermal plant are indeed impressive. The Ivanpah Solar Plant in Dry Lake, California stretches over about 3,500 acres of desert, includes about 300,000 sun-tracking mirrors and is set to produce about 377 MW of power.

The colossal and beautiful site made its debut on February 13, 2014, but was however shrouded in doubt. The future of solar thermal energy’s relevance in the electric power sector is gloomy, but the companies behind Ivampah, BrightSource Energy, NRG Energy and Google, believe that once the plant shows its energy-producing merits, it will incentivize and help finance the construction of similar solar thermal arrays. Only time will tell whether Ivampah’s success will be enough to bolster solar thermal energy.