'Avian incident' knocks out 84% of massive California solar farm

[Zorro]

Source: LA Times

An “avian incident” sparked a fire at one of California’s biggest solar farms, affecting 1,200 acres and knocking out 84% of the California Valley Solar Ranch’s generating capacity.

The June 5 incident didn’t damage solar panels at the 250-megawatt power plant, but distribution poles and cables need to be replaced, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday from owner Clearway Energy Inc. The company didn’t say exactly how the blaze was ignited.

“We are pleased that in the aftermath of the fire at California Valley Solar Ranch, our team and first responders were able to ensure the safety of the surrounding community, our employees, and fire officials,” the company said by email. “While fires remain an unfortunate and growing reality in California and across the west, incidents such as these give us continued confidence in our risk prevention and mitigation plans.”

About 40 megawatts of the San Luis Obispo County facility are in operation, and it’s expected to return to full service by July 1. Clearway expects the incident to cost $8 million to $9 million this year, after estimated insurance recovery.

Read more: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-avian-solar-fire-20190620-story.html

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"Avian incident"? That's a new one to me.

[exboyfil]

1. Flock of birds flew into the concentrated light rays?

[Zorro]

2. Don't think so

It's a field of solar panels, not of mirrored light concentrators.

[jpak]

3. I once saw an unfortunate blue heron impact a power line and short it out

[FailureToCommunicate]

4. "Avian incident"

[jberryhill]

5. Avian Incidents

It happens. A bird in the wrong place can provide a spark path....

[Quackers]

8. Is it bad that I laughed out loud watching the first one?

Don’t know why, it just caught me off guard.

[Xipe Totec]

6. It's the Avian Flew - an avian flew into our facility and knocked it out. nt

[a kennedy]

7. Oh my......

[BootinUp]

9. Bird BBQ?

[FakeNoose]

10. Can't they install whistles or flashing lights to repel the birds?

It has to be cheaper than replacing all these generators and solar panels, am I right?

[Kali]

19. it was some power poles that burnt up not the panels

they probably keep things pretty mowed off under the panels. around here they come out and mow/scrape around the poles occasionally. mostly they get hit by lightening and not ground fires, though.

[Sherman A1]

11. Had a squirrel 🐿 trip the transformer near my house

He wasn’t in very good shape when we found him stiff in the backyard.

[JDC]

12. Same here. Started a fire when it fell, still flaming apparently.

Was in my neighbor's yard, Fire trucks came down the bridle path on "our side of the fence" to put it out.

[jgmiller]

13. Expect this to be on Trump's hit parade very soon

[truthisfreedom]

14. Raccoons repeatedly shorted out lines in my first home's neighborhood.

Once I heard and saw a transformer explode... could have been s raccoon too. Squirrels often shorted them out too, but they were so small they just blew off the lines. Sometimes they lived. Badly singed I imagine.

[geralmar]

15. It's not commonly known that birds occasionally explode on contact.

.

[BootinUp]

16. Rofl, that's some low budget stuff there. Nt

[elleng]

17. 'Avian incident' causes fire at California Valley solar farm.

'An energy company says a so-called “avian incident” is responsible for a fire that cut 84% of the overall generating capacity at one of the largest solar farms in California.

A regulatory filing Wednesday by Clearway Energy says the blaze caused up to $9 million worth of damage on about 1,200 acres of the California Valley Solar Ranch in San Luis Obispo County.

The filing says distribution poles and cabling will need to be repaired, but no solar panels were damaged.

The report didn’t specify how the June 5 incident occurred or say what exactly an “avian incident” is. An email to the company seeking comment wasn’t immediately returned Thursday.

Clearway says full operations are expected to resume July 1 at the 4,700-acre solar farm on California’s central coast.'

https://ksby.com/news/fire-watch/2019/06/20/avian-incident-causes-fire-at-california-valley-solar-farm

[Vegas Roller]

18. I thought a whole slew of Canada geese

did aerial bombardment of guano on the panels … but I suppose it was something different.