World's biggest solar power station in doubt

news.com.au ^ | 8th September 2009

[naturalman1975]

A BID to build the world's largest solar power station in Victoria is in doubt after the company involved was placed in receivership.

The $420 million project, planned by Solar Systems, was to have produced power for about 45,000 houses and has provided work for 150 people, Fairfax reported.

Administrator Stephen Longley of PricewaterhouseCoopers said he hoped to have news for the workers by the end of the week.

"We are assessing Solar Systems' operational and financial position with a view to continuing operations on a reduced scale over the next three months in order to provide us with sufficient time to restructure and sell the business as a going concern," he said.

The proposed 154 megawatt power station would use photovoltaic solar cells to magnify solar energy 500 times and deliver electricity to the national grid by 2013, the newspaper said.

A pilot power station has been finished at Bridgewater, near Bendigo, but work on the main station is yet to commence.

[4rcane]

no worries, the environmentalist will
A. Blame big oil corporation for the failure
B. Blame government interference for the failure
C. Pitch in and invest their own money into the project, to bail it out

[Texas Songwriter]

Is the sun exploding?

[max americana]

in other words...it’s HUMAN’S FAULT! Mother Gaia, please forgive us!

[GeronL]

Someone made a lot of money somewhere on this scam

[GeronL]

It will not be C

[ApplegateRanch]

the environmentalist will...

D. Pitch in and “invest” the taxpayers’ money into the project, to bail it out

[Spaulding]

The usual nonsense. If only there was a way to “magnify the sun's energy 500 times”. Of course, with Obama this would be no problem. Paying 500 times what something is worth is a job well done, though not as well done as paying 1000 times what it is worth. That's why they're called "Green jobs" (though money isn't necessarily green anymore)!

But if someone with just a little engineering background and just a little business experience does a cost-benefit or profitability model it makes no sense, and probably never will. The sun's energy is simply too diffuse. Then there is the little problem of the earth always spinning, just when you want some sunlight. Then there is the little problem of converting diffuse energy into dense electrical energy.

These projects have only ever made sense to developers who understood how to front-load the government subsidies, spend the money, and go bankrupt. Clearly, Van Jones couldn't have built one, but was smart enough not to care. His mission was and is to destroy capitalism and these projects have been wasting taxpayer money for over 30 years.

[PugetSoundSoldier]

$420 million for 45,000 houses is $9,333 per house. Assuming a typical $100 per month electrical bill, that is 7 YEARS to return investment, not including time value of money or the operational costs. With 150 people, and an average $80,000 per person in costs, that pushes you to 9.5 years just to break even, assuming no other ongoing maintenance costs.

And for technology that degrades in 10-15 years. I bet it doesn’t even break even in terms of cost...

[FreedomPoster]

>>I bet it doesn’t even break even in terms of cost...

That is the story of Green Magic Energy™ in a nutshell, over and over again. It doesn’t slow the Lefty True Believers, though.

[AmericanVictory]

Wasn’t Van Jones advocating something along the same lines? Didn’t this administration just give hundreds of milions for solar panel manufacture?

[Oztrich Boy]

If only there was a way to “magnify the sun's energy 500 times”. you could put two systems in series and magnify the energy 250,000 times.

[Spaulding]

Brilliant!