Posted on 01/08/2020 6:46:38 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The purveyors of solar energy are working overtime to spin the now official failure of the Crescent Dunes thermal solar plant in central Nevada. The contracts to purchase the electricity from the constantly broken plant will be voided. Bloomberg Businessweek claims that Crescent Dunes was obsoleted by technological advances in the form of photovoltaic based solar plants. That is nonsense and misses the whole point of the Crescent Dunes project. It also misses the reality that all utility-scale solar is a failure not marginal, not growing into being practical, but a total and complete failure.
The scalable forms of renewable energy are wind and solar. Hydro is severely limited by most state laws that define renewable energy not because hydro is not renewable, but because it is not politically correct. Dams are not politically acceptable to the kayakers and big thinkers at the Sierra Club. Nevada is wind poor but sunshine rich. So for Nevada, solar is the only route to energy nirvana.
Nevada has a law requiring that 50% of the electricity be from renewable sources by 2030. That law was passed by the Nevada Legislature. No doubt they were influenced by the states utility, NV Energy, owned by the Warren Buffett organization. Tom Steyer is a California billionaire and global warming fanatic. Currently, he is running for president. Steyer bankrolled an initiative to put a 50% renewable electricity requirement by 2030 into the Nevada state constitution.
The final vote on the constitutional amendment will be in November 2020. Presumably, renewable energy must be frozen into the constitution so that the investors in solar energy can be protected against the possibility that the Legislature will come to its senses and repeal the renewable energy quota.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Beyond stupid.
Legislating the currently economically/technically unfeasible by date certain is so incredibly foolish it’s off the charts. Yet here we are.
I'm shocked.
Ive read that due to cheap solar panels (over-produced by China) electricity from large-scale Solar power may be cheaper than coal or gas. The problem is scalability - the footprint is of course huge - and as such will never become a large percentage of an electrical system.
It worked as designed.
It transferred tax dollars to Democrat cronies, who then laundered some of it back to the Democrats.
The contracts to purchase the electricity from the constantly broken plant will be voided. Bloomberg Businessweek claims that Crescent Dunes was obsoleted by technological advances in the form of photovoltaic based solar plants. That is nonsense and misses the whole point of the Crescent Dunes project. It also misses the reality that all utility-scale solar is a failure not marginal, not growing into being practical, but a total and complete failure.
...
From what I’ve read, utility scale thin film solar and onshore wind are now economical and can compete without subsidies.
https://www.lazard.com/media/451086/lazards-levelized-cost-of-energy-version-130-vf.pdf
This professor is a good resource for all things power and energy. I recommend that you subscribe to him.
“Energy Stats: Then and Now, Here and There”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31Bi2LpLoK8&feature=youtu.be
He also talks at length about nuclear power, has a video on fracking...
If it costs more energy to build and maintain these places than they produce - it’s insane.
Please see the link in my post #7.
But the fact that a facility in Nevada has failed suggests that I could be wrong.
It takes a lot of time and money to build a nuclear power plant.
The technology used in Nevada is the cause of the failure, not the location.
Sadly, based purely on lies and BIG propaganda by gangreen at last (s)election, we’re strapped with an addition to the state constitution madating that 50% of power generated in NV be “renewable” by 2030. Currently less than 10%. Consequences for failure to meet-——? Not sure but I’ll bet it won’t be cheap. Much dumbassery going on.
Cui Bono?
RE: There have been several places on earth that *I’ve* visted where solar just might make sense...either now or at some point in the future
Good. I’m sure if the project is feasible, PRIVATE INVESTMENTS will come to build them AT THE RIGHT TIME.
Why use tax payer money to force a project which is not feasible today?
...also, there is an excess of nitwittery.
True. But they produce a lot of energy for a long time...
From your source.
You’re right.
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