STATE — One of the largest thermal-solar plants in the country is expected to shut down most operations in 2026 due to cost and other factors, according to reports.
The Ivanpah Solar Power Facility, which resides on Interstate 15 at the California-Nevada border in the Mojave Desert, started operations in January 2014, but Pacific Gas & Electric announced it will no longer purchase power from the 386-megawatt facility. The plant is operated by NRG Energy, which owns the gas peaker plant in Carlsbad, acknowledged in a statement the solar facility cannot compete with rooftop solar, while others said other issues include obsolete technology and the plant never generating more than 75% of its planned output in a year.
The California Public Utilities Commission must approve the power purchase agreement termination. If approved, PG&E will exit in January 2026.
The facility received a $1.6 billion loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy with a total cost of $2.2 billion, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported. PG&E’s agreement is with Solar Partners, which consists of NRG, Google and Kelvin Energy. NRG invested $300 million, Google $168 million and the rest was covered by BrightSource (now Kelvin Energy).
