Misaligned mirrors are being blamed for a fire on May 19 at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California’s Mojave Desert. According to the San Bernadino Fire Dept., several of the mirrors on one of the arrays were aimed too low and ignited electrical cables on a lower level of one of the boiler towers.
During normal operation, the facility’s nearly 350,000 mirrors, known as heliostats, automatically align to reflect the sun’s rays toward each of the system’s three 459-ft boiler towers, generating high-pressure steam to drive turbines. Each of the 75-sq-ft mirrors is programmed to track the sun and keep the rays focused on the top of the tower. When operating at full capacity, the facility can produce 377 MW of net electricity.