• Ivanpah relies on a type of solar power called concentrated solar power (CSP), which generates electricity by reflecting sunlight upon a central location to heat a fluid and spin a turbine.
• Although many online claims imply that Ivanpah’s closure reflects poorly on solar power as a whole, these claims are misleading. CSP plants operate very differently from the more common photovoltaic (PV) solar panels.
• When Ivanpah was built in the early 2010s, both CSP and PV were relatively expensive. In the decade since, costs of both have plummeted, but solar PV has become significantly cheaper than CSP.
• Even if Ivanpah does close, CSP plants continue to operate elsewhere in the U.S. and the world.