Purchasing and Negotiation Training

Robert Menard
Certified Purchasing Professional,
Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant, Certified Green Purchasing Professional, Certified Professional Purchasing Manager

In previous posts, we have spoken about environmentalism and green energy sources, as if they were mutually exclusive.  In August of 2013, I referred to the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System solar farm project as a success. Now, this giant solar farm and others like it are causing environmental damage.  They are producing such high levels of heat that birds flying over it are incinerated.

Ivanpah uses a new and more expensive technology than a conventional solar power plant.  The so-called Solar-thermal process focuses concentrated sunlight to convert water in the boiler into steam, which powers a turbine to make electricity.  It does not use the now traditional photovoltaic wafer technology.

Data Points on the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System

• Ivanpah is a joint effort by NRG Energy Inc.,  Google and BrightSource Energy
• The site is located 45 miles southwest of Las Vegas and covers about 5 square miles in the Mojave Desert
• It enjoys almost constant sunshine for most part of the year
• It is also close to transmission lines that carry power to customers
• More than 300,000 computer-controlled mirrors (each roughly the size of an average garage door) reflect sunlight to boilers on top of 450-foot towers.
• The system produces 400 megawatts at full power, claimed to be sufficient to power 140,000 homes
• The $2.2 billion price tag is the largest ever for a single solar project

So far, so good 

Ivanpah is now being ironically mocked by various environmental groups as the Bird-Scorching Solar Project. The claim is that the mirrors scorch and incinerates birds that fly through the 1,000 degrees +/- F heat surrounding the towers.  Federal biologists have noticed that these birds appeared to have singed or burnt feathers.  Other biologists believe that the birds may have mistaken the vast shimmering reflective panels for a lake.

Bugs are also attracted to the bright light from the mirrors, which draws preying birds to the reflected light.  One estimate is that one bird catches fire every 1-2 minutes, pushing the annual estimated bird kill count in the hundreds of thousands.  Another estimate is 28,000 while BrightSource estimates the total at only 1,000.  Obviously, these estimates cannot all be right. Despite its low estimate, BrightSource has offered $1.8 million in compensation for the expected bird deaths.

Spokespersons for BrightSource and NRG have diplomatically addressed but downplayed the wildlife problem.  State and federal regulators are conducting a two-year study of Ivanpah’s effects on birds and environmental groups are openly questioning the value of cleaner power due to the damage on native wildlife.  To add insult to injury, Native American tribes have also objected to the project, saying that the towers and the glare generated by the panels are visually obtrusive.

BrightSource’s submittal of pans for its second big solar farm in Riverside County drew objections from the National Park, the US Fish and Wildlife Service over concerns that heat produced by the plant could kill golden eagles and other protected species.

What is the rational solution?

Both the radical environmental left and dismissive investors on the right tend to stake our untenable claims.  While it is provable that windmills, solar panels, and biofuels will not replace fossil fuels for the foreseeable future, developing all sources of energy has always been a wise policy.  Most renewable energy technologies require vast stretches of territory while delivering pitiful small energy returns compared to fossil fuels.  Boondoggles like ethanol,  invade the food chain, artificially driving prices up, and creating more pollution that gasoline and diesel alternatives.

We need to proceed on all fronts.  There simply is not enough history or data on Ivanpah on which to make sound judgments or take decisive, well-advised action.  For example, estimates on the number of birds killed each year in the U.S alone range from over 350 million to just under one billion are killed by flying into windows and fixed glass, another unreliable statistic.

Stay the course, pursue all alternatives, and let’s collect and study the data.