I had not heard much about the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility for a while – no wonder – Recall we were told gas would be used to warm the boilers on cold Mohave Desert mornings. But when you convert the ever increasing natural gas usage to MWhrs – Ivanpah electricity production is mostly from natural gas.
Warwick,
euanmearns (Energy Matters) has an excellent rundown on solar heat in the USA current.
euanmearns.com/concentrated-solar-power-in-the-usa-a-performance-review/
Built on a dry lake bed that flooded as recently as 2004.
At 800 meters elevation will be cold at night for much of the year. I’m not surprised they need gas to heat the boilers.