In 2014, former President Barack Obama's administration celebrated the opening of a massive solar energy plant in California's Mojave Desert that was supposed to produce electricity for at least 25 years and was heralded as being at the forefront of the future of "clean" and "green" renewable energy production.

Yet, just over 10 years later, and despite all of the fanfare and billions of taxpayer dollars in loans, subsidies, and tax breaks, the costly Ivanpah Solar Power Plant that never reached its promised level of production is on the verge of being shut down, Just the News reported.

The project's impending demise reflects the broader failures of the "clean" and "green" renewable energy movement that was championed by both Obama and former President Joe Biden as forced replacements for cheaper, plentiful, and more reliable energy sources like coal, natural gas, and oil.

A proud moment for the Obama administration

When it was first opened in 2014, according to an Associated Press report at the time, the $2.2 billion Ivanpah solar plant was praised as being on the cutting edge of innovation for renewable energy production, as it was different from and supposedly cheaper and more efficient than standard solar power generation using arrays of photovoltaic panels.

The plant, which covers roughly five square miles, features nearly 350,000 mirrors that surround three massive water towers, and works by the mirros tracking the sun and concentrating its rays at the towers, heating the water into steam that then powered turbines to produce electricity.

Owned by NRG Energy Inc. and other partners, the plant was supposed to produce upwards of 400 megawatts of power and 25-year contracts were signed with Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison, with the former distributing electricity from two of the three units and the latter drawing the remaining energy from the third tower.

Power company looks to end its contract early

The Ivanpah plants contracts were supposed to run through 2039, but in a press release last month from California's PG&E, it was announced that, pending final approval from the California Public Utilities Commission, the agreement would be terminated early and the company would cease distributing its energy to customers by the beginning of 2026.

"PG&E determined that ending the agreements at this time will save customers money compared to the cost of keeping them through 2039," the utility company explained.

NRG Energy similarly released a statement about the pending contract termination with PG&E and noted, "Ivanpah proved to be a successful demonstration of [concentrated solar power] technology, however it has been surpassed by solar photovoltaics (PV) due to much lower capital and operating costs in producing clean energy."

In other words, despite the initial promises Ivanpah's innovation was cheaper and more efficient than standard solar panels, the reverse turned out to be true, and NRG revealed, "Once deactivated the units will be decommissioned, providing an opportunity for the site to potentially be repurposed for renewable PV energy production."

An unmitigated financial and environmental disaster

According to the American Enterprise Institute's Benjamin Zycher, the Ivanpah solar project has been nothing short of a costly disaster since its inception under former President Obama.

The $2.2 billion Ivanpah plant, which never reached its full capacity of energy production, was almost wholly subsidized by taxpayers by way of a $1.6 billion loan from the Energy Department, which has not yet been repaid, along with a $535 million Treasury Department grant plus an assortment of tax credits and other bureaucratic manipulations intended to increase the plant's perceived value.

Meanwhile, Politico's E&E News reported that Ivanpah has also been a disaster for the local environment in that it has been blamed for an estimated 6,000 bird deaths per year, with some birds being roasted and scorched in mid-air after flying through the concentrated solar rays, and the massive plant has disrupted the habitat of endangered tortoises native to the region.

The outlet further reported that its sources indicated that Southern California Edison, which is similarly contracted through 2039 on one of the three tower units, was also holding "ongoing discussions" with NRG and regulators about buying out the remainder of its contract.