Taxpayer-backed Ivapah solar plant kills birds and burns fossil fuels

This is part 2 of a series on California’s troubled Ivampah Solar Power Plant in the Mojave Desert.

More than a decade after opening, California’s taxpayer-supported “clean energy” solar plant is still burning fossil fuels and killing thousands of birds each year.

The Ivapah Solar Power Plant, a large facility in the Mojave Desert near the California-Nevada border, uses hundreds of thousands of mirrors to reflect sunlight into three tall buildings, generating powerful heat to generate electricity.

But those same beams have proved fatal.

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Federal researchers and monitoring reports have documented thousands of birds killed after flying into the concentrated solar radiation of the plant – a phenomenon known as “solar flux.”

The facility also relies on natural gas to run each day — producing tens of thousands of metric tons of carbon dioxide annually — an amount comparable to the energy use of thousands of homes, raising questions about how “clean” the facility really is.

It stands close to the place, its trail is unmistakable. The towers glow brightly as the rays of sunlight meet the top, creating an almost surreal scene against the desert.

Once promoted as a symbol of the future of renewable energy, Ivapah will now consider whether its environmental costs outweigh its benefits, with critics saying the project raises broader concerns about how “clean energy” is evaluated.

“When oil and gas spills go down, which is literally a trickle, the whole job shuts down. And to some extent that’s a good thing,” Daniel Turner, founder of the energy advocacy group Power The Future, told Fox News Digital.

“But you label it ‘green’ or ‘clean’ and all the rules are lifted.”

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An aerial view shows the Ivampah Solar Power Plant near the California-Nevada border, where mirrors reflect sunlight onto towers to generate electricity. (Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group)

Despite documented wildlife impacts, the plant continues to operate — with California regulators rejecting efforts to shut it down and instead arguing that it’s still needed to support the power grid. Officials under both the Trump and Biden administrations have supported closing the plant, citing the high cost of its electricity compared to new alternatives.

The project was built with more than $1.6 billion in federally funded loans and other taxpayer-funded incentives, leaving hundreds of millions of dollars unfunded — as environmental concerns continue to grow. In addition, the US Department of the Treasury provided a grant of 539 million dollars to help build the facility, which covers about 30% of the construction costs.

Bird mortality and wildlife impacts

The facility covers more than 4,000 hectares of the Mojave desert and uses approximately 350,000 mirrors – mounted on more than 170,000 heliostats – to reflect sunlight onto three central towers.

That focused light has had unintended consequences.

Researchers say insects are attracted to the light towers, which in turn attract birds. Some then fly into the concentrated sunlight of the plant – known as solar flux – where they can be injured or die.

Researchers have dubbed the phenomenon “streamers,” with a video released by the US Geological Survey showing the birds following the smoke as their feathers ignite.

The peregrine falcon wing shows significant feather damage associated with exposure to concentrated sunlight, according to a US Fish and Wildlife Service study of the Ivanampah sunflower plant. (US Fish and Wildlife Service)

Burnt feathers from peregrine falcons show damage patterns linked to concentrated solar radiation at the Ivanampah solar plant, according to a federal study. (US Fish and Wildlife Service)

A 2016 federal study by the US Fish and Wildlife Service found evidence of birds suffering feather damage and injuries associated with exposure to extreme heat near the towers.

Monitoring reports filed with California regulators and reviewed by Fox News Digital continue to document bird and bat deaths at the site, with hundreds of birds found dead each year.

An environmental review conducted before construction anticipated some level of wildlife impact, including bird deaths related to glass collisions and concentrated solar radiation, according to California Energy Commission documents.

“Bird mortality is still a big problem for concentrated solar plants like Ivanpah,” Lewis Grove, director of wind and energy policy for the American Bird Conservancy, told Fox News Digital.

“Public estimates are that thousands of birds are killed by this one facility every year,” he said, adding that the trade “is generally not good for the birds.”

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He noted that new photovoltaic solar systems have very low impacts on wildlife, emphasizing how the industry has moved away from the technology used in Ivampah.

“The Ivampah plant was a financial disaster and an environmental disaster,” said Julia Dowell of the Sierra Club in a previous Fox News Digital report. He added that the project “killed thousands of birds and turtles” and showed that “not all renewable technologies are created equal.”

Effect of environment

Beyond the death of the birds, the project has rehabilitated the surrounding desert.

The property was once considered a high-rise residential property, according to a state environmental review conducted prior to construction. Development cleared large areas of land, drove out turtles and other wildlife and raised concerns about longevity.

Early monitoring reports indicated dozens of protected desert tortoises were not seen during the initial operation — including animals kept in enclosures — according to California Energy Commission documents reviewed by Fox News Digital.

Critics also question whether efforts to remove the turtles from the site have been successful.

Burning of fossil fuels

The natural range of this plant extends beyond wildlife.

Ivanampah relies on natural gas to run each day – a requirement that has raised questions about how “clean” the area really is.

While the original design assumes limited gas consumption, actual operation often requires several hours of gas burning to bring the system online. The facility also lacks large storage capacity, meaning it cannot generate electricity at night — a limitation that new solar projects continue to face.

The bird’s plumage shows curling and scorching linked to excessive exposure to the sun’s heat at the Ivampah facility, according to a study by the wildlife agency. (US Fish and Wildlife Service)

Project documents show the plant was authorized to use far less natural gas than was ultimately needed, and later operators sought permission to increase usage by 60% to maintain reliable operations, according to the California Energy Commission, which was reviewed by Fox News Digital.

The facility burns natural gas to support startup and daily operations, producing approximately 25,000 to 30,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually – roughly equivalent to the carbon emissions of several thousand US plants.

That level of emissions is enough to put the plant under California’s cap-and-trade system, which requires major polluters to pay for their emissions — effectively putting it in “solar” territory next to traditional fossil fuel plants when it comes to emissions.

Although Ivampah produces fewer emissions than a conventional natural gas plant, its carbon footprint remains much higher than that of today’s solar farms, which generate electricity without burning fossil fuels.

NRG Energy, which owns the facility, said in a previous statement that it remains committed to providing renewable electricity but declined to comment further on environmental issues.

The California Energy Commission told Fox News Digital that the project continues to meet its environmental requirements, with wildlife impacts being addressed through ongoing monitoring and coordination with federal and state agencies.

The Ivanampah Solar Power Plant in California’s Mojave Desert uses mirrors to focus sunlight onto three towers to generate electricity. (Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register/Getty Images)

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More than a decade after its opening, Ivapah now stands as a trade mark in the quest for clean energy – where efforts to reduce emissions may come with real environmental costs.

For now, the plant continues to operate because regulators say the power it provides is still needed — even if questions remain about its cost, environmental impact and whether it still makes sense to keep it running.

Those questions extend beyond the plant itself, raising broader concerns about how projects like Ivanpah are authorized — an issue Fox News Digital will examine in the next part of this series.