The Ivanpah Solar Power Plant, a familiar sight to those driving along Interstate 15 between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, is set to partially shut down, according to its operators, Solar Partners.
The $2.2 billion plant in California’s Mojave Desert, near Primm, Nevada, generated power mostly for Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE), in a purchase power agreement originally planned to extend through 2039.
The concentrating solar power, or CSP, plant began operating in 2014 and initially fell far short of its expected energy output. Environmentalists have also long argued it is a disturbance in the landscape. It burns natural gas each morning to power up, and it is responsible for the regular deaths of birds and bats, as well as potentially disrupting the habitat of desert tortoises…