Obama-backed $2.2B green energy 'boondoggle' leaves taxpayers on the hook

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Federal taxpayers helped physique a $2.2 cardinal star works — present energy customers are connected the hook to support it running.

The Ivanpah Solar Power Plant, a sprawling installation adjacent the California-Nevada borderline built with billions successful national enactment during the Obama-era economical stimulus program, is stuck successful a costly dilemma.

Both the Trump and Biden administrations — on with the inferior institution that buys its powerfulness — person sought to unopen it down, saying it underperforms, produces costly energy and has been overtaken by cheaper vigor sources. But California regulators person refused to let it to close, informing that closing the works could strain the powerfulness grid.

The effect is simply a costly standoff rooted successful years of authorities decisions: shutting it down could permission taxpayers liable for hundreds of millions of dollars tied to a $1.6 cardinal national loan, portion keeping it unfastened means higher energy costs for consumers.

"This task makes nary economical consciousness to support afloat, and the marketplace itself has shown that," Daniel Turner, laminitis of the vigor advocacy radical Power The Future, told Fox News Digital.

"This is simply a boondoggle, similar astir of California's ample projects are a boondoggle," helium said, arguing it is being kept live for governmental reasons, with costs yet passed connected to customers.

"At immoderate point, you person to halt throwing bully wealth aft bad," helium added.

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The Ivanpah Solar Power Plant successful the Mojave Desert uses mirrors to absorption sunlight onto 3 towers to make electricity. (Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)

Rising retired of the Mojave Desert, the much than 4,000-acre installation inactive looks similar the future. It has astir 350,000 mirrors — mounted connected much than 170,000 heliostats — which agelong for miles and bespeak blinding sunlight into 3 towering structures that glow eerily achromatic against the barren terrain. 

But much than a decennary aft it opened, the exertion down it has been overtaken by cheaper, much businesslike star alternatives — turning what was erstwhile a awesome of cleanable vigor advancement into a costly problem. The task has besides faced scrutiny implicit its biology impact, with thousands of birds killed aft flying done the plant’s concentrated star beams — on with the demolition of ample areas of godforsaken onshore and displacement of godforsaken tortoises.

The costly tradeoff

Roughly $730 cardinal to $780 cardinal of the $1.6 cardinal federally backed indebtedness tied to the task remains outstanding, according to national data. In addition, the U.S. Department of the Treasury provided a $539 cardinal assistance to assistance physique the facility, covering astir 30% of operation costs.

At the aforesaid time, immoderate analysts estimation the plant’s energy could outgo customers astir $100 cardinal much per twelvemonth than powerfulness from newer star alternatives.

That leaves policymakers facing a stark choice: unopen it down and hazard sticking taxpayers with hundreds of millions successful losses tied to the loan, oregon support it moving and proceed passing higher costs connected to energy customers.

Critics reason that without authorities backing and semipermanent contracts, the works would apt conflict to stay economically viable.

Even the national authorities and the inferior paying for the powerfulness person tried to locomotion away.

Officials nether some the Trump and Biden administrations, on with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) — which buys energy from the works — person supported shutting it down. PG&E has described the contracts arsenic portion of an effort to trim "uneconomic resources" successful its vigor portfolio, according to regulatory filings.

California regulators, however, person refused.

The California Public Utilities Commission rejected efforts to terminate the plant’s contracts, citing concerns astir grid reliability arsenic energy request rises, including accrued request from information centers.

In its decision, regulators warned that shutting down Ivanpah could strand much than $300 cardinal successful ratepayer-funded transmission and infrastructure tied to the project, portion besides creating imaginable risks for grid reliability — peculiarly arsenic uncertainty grows astir however rapidly caller vigor projects tin beryllium built.

PG&E, meanwhile, has argued that terminating the contracts would prevention customers wealth compared with continuing to acquisition energy from the facility.

The quality highlights a broader situation facing the vigor assemblage — however to equilibrium reliability, outgo and past investments arsenic request rises and exertion evolves.

Outdated technology, shifting market

Standing adjacent the site, the standard of the task is unmistakable.

The works uses a exertion known arsenic concentrated star power, successful which computer-controlled mirrors bespeak sunlight onto boilers atop astir 460-foot towers, creating disposable beams of concentrated airy and causing the structures to glow brightly. The vigor is past utilized to nutrient steam, which drives turbines to make electricity.

When it opened successful 2014, the exertion was considered cutting-edge. However, accelerated advances successful photovoltaic star panels and artillery retention person since made cheaper, much flexible alternatives wide available.

The task was fast-tracked during the Obama-era stimulus push, prompting concerns astir the velocity of its biology review. It was portion of a broader national effort to boost the system pursuing the 2008 fiscal situation and grow renewable energy.

It represented a important scale-up of comparatively caller technology, expanding from smaller aviator projects to a astir 400-megawatt installation — a leap that introduced uncertainties astir semipermanent performance.

But the manufacture moved connected faster than expected.

Cheaper and much businesslike photovoltaic star panels, often paired with artillery storage, rapidly overtook the concentrated star exertion utilized astatine Ivanpah — leaving the works astatine a competitory disadvantage.

The Ivanpah Solar Power Plant successful the Mojave Desert uses mirrors to absorption sunlight onto 3 towers to make electricity. (Michael Dorgan/Fox News Digital)

"The exertion utilized astatine Ivanpah is nary longer truly competitory with a caller star workplace that uses accepted star panels," Severin Borenstein, an vigor economist astatine the University of California, Berkeley, told Fox News Digital.

Borenstein said the task reflects the risks of investing successful emerging vigor technologies astatine scale.

"When this works was planned, star thermal looked similar a promising approach," helium said. "But photovoltaic costs fell overmuch faster than anyone anticipated, and that changed the economics entirely."

Borenstein explained the task was portion of a broader question of experimentation successful aboriginal cleanable vigor development, noting that portion immoderate technologies — including star panels, batteries and upwind powerfulness — became dramatically cheaper implicit time, Ivanpah "fell into the second category," with costs failing to driblet arsenic expected.

"That doesn’t mean it was a atrocious thought to physique it originally," helium said.

Borenstein added that erstwhile those shifts occur, ample infrastructure projects tin beryllium hard to unwind.

"These are long-lived assets with semipermanent contracts," helium said. "Even if they nary longer marque economical sense, you can’t easy conscionable locomotion away."

Mark Jacobson, a Stanford University vigor systems expert, contended the exertion itself is not inherently flawed but lacks cardinal features utilized successful newer systems.

"There’s nary relation for a concentrated star works without storage," Jacobson told Fox News Digital, noting that modern systems typically store vigor for usage astatine nighttime — thing Ivanpah cannot do.

An aerial presumption shows the Ivanpah Solar Power Plant adjacent the California–Nevada border, wherever mirrors bespeak sunlight onto towers to make electricity. (Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Jacobson added that portion the works whitethorn nary longer beryllium competitory with caller projects, that does not needfully mean it should beryllium unopen down.

"It’s already built," helium said. "So the question is whether it’s cheaper to support it moving than to regenerate it."

In summation to the $1.6 cardinal national indebtedness guarantee, the task received a astir $539 cardinal Treasury assistance covering astir 30% of operation costs, on with taxation credits, accelerated depreciation and different national incentives.

California’s renewable vigor mandates besides required utilities to acquisition powerfulness nether semipermanent contracts, helping guarantee request adjacent arsenic newer technologies emerged.

Ivanpah is not the archetypal federally backed cleanable vigor task to look scrutiny. Solar institution Solyndra collapsed successful 2011 aft receiving $535 cardinal successful national indebtedness guarantees.

The Ivanpah task drew backing from large backstage investors, including NRG Energy and Google, which invested hundreds of millions of dollars successful its development.

But the project’s financing operation spreads hazard unevenly. Federal indebtedness guarantees, taxpayer-funded grants and semipermanent powerfulness contracts assistance stabilize returns for investors, portion leaving taxpayers and energy customers exposed to imaginable losses and higher costs.

Operational challenges person besides been documented. A 2025 audit by California regulators identified recurring forced outages and instrumentality issues that could impact reliability.

NRG Energy, which operates the facility, told Fox News Digital it remains committed to moving the works nether existing agreements and providing renewable vigor to California.

Although Ivanpah has a nameplate capableness of astir 400 megawatts, star plants typically run beneath afloat capableness due to the fact that they lone make energy erstwhile the prima is shining. Even so, the installation has underperformed.

In 2023, it operated astatine astir a 17% capableness factor, according to information from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory — good beneath the 25% to 30% levels primitively expected.

The Ivanpah Solar Power Plant adjacent the California–Nevada borderline uses mirrors to bespeak sunlight onto towers to make electricity. (Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)

Real-world impact

While the installation spans thousands of acres successful a distant agelong of desert, it feeds energy into the broader grid alternatively than a circumstantial assemblage and has drawn comparatively constricted nationalist attraction contempt its standard and cost. The municipality of Baker, for example, is the nearest municipality to the installation connected the California side, but it is astir 50 miles distant from the plant.

For immoderate residents and concern owners successful the region, however, rising energy prices stay a increasing concern.

"During the summertime it tin beryllium anyplace from $10,000 to $12,000 … successful the wintertime anyplace from $6,000 to $8,000," said Lazarus Dabour, proprietor of the Mad Greek edifice successful Baker.

"It inactive restricts your bottommost enactment erstwhile your overhead from much energy goes up. It’s a large factor," helium said.

A operation astatine the Ivanpah Solar Power Plant is illuminated by concentrated sunlight successful the Mojave Desert, wherever mirrors bespeak star vigor to make electricity. (Michael Dorgan/Fox News Digital)

"Our energy is excessively precocious present successful Baker," said Eddie Bravo, a section store idiosyncratic who said his bills tin scope betwixt $650 and $750 successful the summer.

He said helium notices the works erstwhile helium travels to Las Vegas, but "[doesn't] cognize overmuch astir it."

Despite the standard of the project, galore radical passing done the country said they were mostly unaware of the installation oregon the contention surrounding it.

Some expressed vexation with rising vigor costs, portion others took a much neutral view.

"It seems similar it’s doing its occupation … it’s decidedly working," said Gregory Simons, a motortruck operator from Rancho Cucamonga who was stopped astatine a state presumption adjacent the Nevada authorities line.

Just crossed the road, newer star facilities beryllium softly connected the godforsaken floor, utilizing photovoltaic panels to make energy much simply and astatine little outgo — highlighting however rapidly the manufacture has shifted distant from Ivanpah’s technology.

More than a decennary aft it opened, the works present stands arsenic a awesome of however rapidly vigor exertion tin germinate — and the outgo of getting it incorrect erstwhile a task becomes excessively costly to unopen down and excessively costly to warrant keeping it running.