An official website of the United States government
Here’s how you know
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
Funding Opportunities
In April 2011, the Department of Energy issued three loan guarantees for $1.6 billion in total to finance Ivanpah, a 392-MW concentrating solar power (CSP) plant. It started commercial operations in January 2014 and Secretary Moniz participated in the dedication ceremony in February 2014. As the world’s largest CSP facility upon completion, Ivanpah nearly doubled the amount of solar thermal energy produced in the United States in previous years.
Ivanpah uses power tower solar thermal technology to generate power by creating high-temperature steam to drive a conventional steam turbine. Mirrors are used to concentrate sunlight and create steam, which is then converted to electricity. Ivanpah employs an innovative system of software-controlled mirrors—called heliostats—that follow the sun and reflect it onto water-filled boilers atop three separate 450 foot towers on the site.  When the sunlight hits the boilers, the water inside is heated and creates high temperature steam. The steam is then piped to conventional steam turbines, which generate electricity.
Ivanpah created 1,000 construction jobs and is expected to support 61 permanent jobs. In addition, the majority of the project’s supply chain was sourced in the United States, with components and services coming from at least 18 states.
Ivanpah is expected to generate 940,000 megawatt-hours of clean energy per year and prevent 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
 
PROJECT STATISTICS: IVANPAH
PROJECT SUMMARY
BrightSource Energy, NRG Energy, Google
Ivanpah Dry Lake, California
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
Loan Program
Loan Type
Loan Guarantee
Loan Amount ¹
$1.6 Billion
Issuance Date
April 2011
Operation Status
Generation Capacity
392 MW
Projected Annual Generation ²
940,000 MWh
ECONOMIC IMPACT
Permanent U.S. Jobs Supported
U.S. Construction Jobs Supported ³
CLIMATE BENEFIT
CO₂ Emissions Prevented Annually
500,000 Metric Tons
All information up-to-date. Last updated June 2017.
¹ Approximate amount of the loan facility approved at closing including principal and any capitalized interest.
² Calculated using the project’s and NREL Technology specific capacity factors. For cases in which NREL’s capacity factors do not encompass project’s specific design and operation, project specific capacity factors are used.
 
Committed to Restoring America’s Energy Dominance.
Follow Us

source