About 3 decades back in the wild-eyed days of space exploitation, there was the concept of solar power satellites which were envisioned as large solar photovoltaics in orbit that would beam power down to earth as microwaves that would be easily converted back to electricity. Given the ability to build enormous structures in orbit, even the low-efficiency of 1980s tech were seen as potentially profitable.
Horrified environmentalists looked at these plans and decried the potential for bird kills over the microwave rectenna farms. Hmmm ... Wind generators and now this solar farm get a pass. Why?
Once again, the Earth does what it wants to, and we are just along for the ride!
With the new mini-ice age coming just a couple of really good volcanic eruptions will put these stupid “solar energy plants” completely offline.
we better start mining a whole lot of coal.
Speaking. Of ‘on the fly’ projects, global geoengineering rears its ugly head here, chemtrails, lolol, we see trails of crap sprayed here all the time, took pics in major cities in Asia as well, another global warming program shot to heck as one “Cure” overrides another envisioned panacea..
Life is a risky scheme as is, having noodle heads like this in charge, makes it even more so.
Yeah, just like the 'shovel ready' deals we've already been through.
When this first came up, it sounded like it was thought out in a third year engineering dorm room over more than a few bong hits and Led Zep blasting out of the stereo. Kids who's only real worry is 'When will the pizza be here' , coming up with a fully baked idea for 'free power'.
"Dontcha see man? Free juice for everyone, cause the sun shines, like, every day!"
The mundane details, like how to keep the mirrors clean, or how to deal with clouds or contrails(?), were left to the few grownups in on the plan. Unfortunately, the grownups were too concerned with how to keep the money in their pockets, and not too much how to make the plant work.
Hence, the 'On the fly" aspect of this plant.
And truly, did anyone expect more?
Problems could include getting the thousands of mirrors pointed in precisely the right direction, especially in the cool early morning, or keeping them clean in the dusty Mojave Desert.
Operators initially expected to need steam from gas-powered boilers for an hour a day during startup. After operations began, they found they needed to keep boilers running more than four times longer - an average of 4 1/2 hours a day."
Glenn Beck recently did a piece on his effort to make his home self sufficient and renewable. He said that after a lot of research he hired the highest rated contractors, and basically told them that money was no object when it came to materials and technology - and that if the home project was successful he was going to retrofit his entire broadcast and film production studio with solar generation.
The result was a flop. HE now says everything he bought is ready for recycle and that scientists have told him the solar industry is about five years away from becoming viable.
IN OTHER WORDS - everything the solar hucksters and the power companies and the PUDs are telling the public is nothing more than Obama droppings. The public is being Grubered!
excerpt from article: “Holland said the company always expected a ramp-up period of four years to reach maximum output.”
Let’s put this in perspective. People need power. Here is a new plant that at its worst burns natural gas (MUCH cleaner than coal) for a whole 4.5 hours a day instead of 24 hours a day. The rest of the time it is using free fuel. And it is doing so while weather conditions have been breaking hundred years records.
That is such a horrible idea to have an extra super clean new power plant.