The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, a concentrated solar thermal in California and the world's largest solar thermal power station, suffered a small fire on one of its three boiler towers Thursday, according to the Associated Press. The fire caused the boiler tower to be shut down while firefighters ascended 300 feet to deal with the blaze, leaving the plant at one third power since another tower is already down for maintenance.

The Ivanpah plant works by using its massive fields of mirrors to direct sunlight towards the top of the three 459-foot boiler towers, which then creates the steam to drive turbines that create the actual electricity. But several misaligned mirrors directed some of this sunlight to the wrong place, starting a fire amidst some electrical cables, San Bernardino County, California fire Capt. Mike McClintock told the AP. Plant personnel had the fire out by the time firefighters on site.

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Image by @SBCOUNTYFIRE of damage to the #Ivanpah solar project. Imagine what this type of heat does to feathers. pic.twitter.com/mNcpnv5v3c — Desert Advocate (@DesertAdvocate) May 20, 2016

The fire comes just months after reports that the facility may have to shut down entirely due to its inability to provide the amount of power that was originally promised, not to mention its tendency to fry thousands of birds in the process. And that's when it's not catching itself on fire.

Source: Associated Press









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