Posted on 08/21/2015 6:39:09 AM PDT by bestintxas
A new energy boom is taking shape in the oil fields of west Texas, but it’s not what you think. It’s solar.
Solar power has gotten so cheap to produce—and so competitively priced in the electricity market—that it is taking hold even in a state that, unlike California, doesn’t offer incentives to utilities to buy or build sun-powered generation.
Pecos County, about halfway between San Antonio and El Paso and on the southern edge of the prolific Permian Basin oil field, could soon host to several large solar-energy farms responsible for about $1 billion in investments, according to state tax records.
On a recent day, contractors for OCI Solar Power LLC erected posts for a solar farm that will be the size of more than 900 football fields. First Solar Inc. was negotiating to lease an adjacent property, its second project in the county. Last year, the Arizona company began capturing sunlight on 400,000 black solar panels in a separate project, converting the abundant sunlight into about 30 megawatts of power.
SunEdison Inc. has presented plans for its own utility-scale solar farm to county commissioners, and Recurrent Energy, a subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc., is readying another site nearby for construction.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
The part I saw you could run one cow on 200 acres, IF you burned the spikes off the cactus leaves.
“Solar power has gotten so cheap to produce—and so competitively priced in the electricity market—that it is taking hold even in a state that, unlike California, doesn’t offer incentives to utilities to buy or build sun-powered generation.”
My BS meter is pinging hard here.
Until solar power experiences a technology breakthrough that increases efficiency exponentially, it is a crony capitalism scam.
‘Tis true that Texas is not offering solar subsidies, but there are federal dollars still out there.
Agree the federal subsidies should end though...
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