Another solar energy plant is ready for the scrap heap, as birds are bursting into flames over the California Desert.

The latest jolly green debacle out of the Obama Administration leaves us on the hook for $1.6billion. At some point, it makes sense to just burn the money.

according to the Daily Caller

The Ivanpah solar plant… which got a $1.6 billion loan guarantee from the Obama administration, only produced a fraction of the power state regulators expected it would. The plant only generated 45 percent of expected power in 2014 and only 68 percent in 2015, according to government data.

 And it does all this at a cost of $200 per megawatt hour — nearly six times the cost of electricity from natural gas-fired power plants. Interestingly enough, Ivanpah uses natural gas to supplement its solar production.

(full story)

The Ivanpah plant is a unique experiment. Rather than converting light directly into electricity, it uses mirrors to focus the sun onto boilers which, in turn, drive steam turbines.

Oh yeah, it’s also blinding pilots and incinerating birds. Any boy lucky enough to spend a summer afternoon with a magnifying glass and an anthill, could have foreseen this problem. I’m guessing the engineers who designed the facility, spent their summer vacations playing Oregon Trail because of allergies.

Which begs the question: How many flaming birds does it take to light a lightbulb? It’s certainly a great reason for chickens to take the road. Added to the epidemic of avian collisions with wind turbines, the decision between wind and solar depends on whether you like your poultry roasted or chopped.

A big reason why people keep supporting these ridiculous programs, is because America once proved you can put a man on the moon, if you’re willing to spend enough money. So now, we think anything is achievable with an unlimited budget. But remember, we only got twelve people and a couple dune buggies to the moon. At a cost of roughly $8 billion per astronaut. Even with all that money, we weren’t able to build the necessary infrastructure that would allow civilian lunar passenger service.

In the same fashion, we know we can get electricity from the sun. We’ve been able to do that for almost two hundred years. What we haven’t figured out, is how to power our modern lifestyle with it. And it’s unlikely that we ever will.

Even something as simple as Google (who is a part owner of this solar project) requires more than two and a quarter million megawatt hours per year. They use enough electricity to power 200,000 homes, just so people at the bar don’t have to argue about how many sitcoms featured Sherman Hemsley.

Year after year Americans find more uses for electricity, and there is no end in sight. As electric car mandates come on line, there will be an even higher demand. It’s too bad the Government got rid of Pontiac.

A great name for an electric car, would be the Firebird.