Posted on 02/22/2010 8:52:44 PM PST by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES — The Obama administration has given preliminary approval for $1.4 billion in loan guarantees for a massive solar-energy project in California's Mojave Desert.
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Monday that BrightSource Energy was in line for the financing help to build solar-energy plants to power 140,000 homes.
...
Environmentalists want the complex relocated because they say it will harm protected desert tortoises. BrightSource has made design changes in an attempt to alleviate environmental concerns.
(Excerpt) Read more at signonsandiego.com ...
Check out the names involved in the PR and lobby efforts.
http://www.brightsourceenergy.com/
FR keyword: brightsource
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/brightsource/index?tab=articles
CA: Startup with link to governor pushes for plant OK (BrightSource)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2115780/posts
Disputed Solar Energy Project in California Desert Is Dropped
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2343502/posts
Isn’t 140,000,000,000 divided by 140,000 equal to 1,000,000 per home?
1.4 Billion for Electric to 140,000 homes??
My bad... That was 1.4 million, that would be a mere $100.000 per home.
Once the federal gov’t gets involved, your first number may be closer.
does that include buying land for transmission lines? and where are they going to suck up the water in the desert to keep the panels clean and efficient? and what about harming the pristine desert? the mojave is more habitable and accessible than anwr.
shortsighyted ecothug feel good operation using money we don’t have. hey ecothugs if you want to feel better take some pills and see avatar again.
Solar power is not cost competitive with oil. Oil will also be worthless in a few years when liquid fluorine thorium reactors come on-line. They have the potential to create energy so cheap that all other forms of energy production will become irrelevant. This is a colossal waste of money. It should be spent on LFTR’s. Don’t believe me? See this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molten_salt_reactor
Was just waiting to see how much the pay off was...
Check out the names involved in the PR and lobby efforts.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
“Chevron” is one name
FEC records show 9 campaign contributions from Brightsource employees, all to Dems, including 4 to Obama.
No surprise...
Don't know about worthless, but I would agree those still invested big in oil, will be worth much less.
Why not build a medium size nuclear power plant using the Kern River as a water cooling source to power 1 million homes in SoCal?
The envirowackos don't want clean hydro, clean nuclear, and now clean solar because God forbid we disrupt the sand in the middle of nowhere. How can you create 1 million “green jobs” if one can't even put a f-ing shovel in the ground?
This isn’t going to make you feel any better, but:
$1,400,000,000 divided by 140,000 homes equals $10,000/home.
.....Bob
$1.4B / 140,000 = $10,000 / home.
Gee, ain’t electricity cheap?
“$1,400,000,000 divided by 140,000 homes equals $10,000/home.”
I wonder how $10,000 per home compares with the capital cost for other types of electricity generation, such as coal, natural gas, etc.
People in my area are doing rooftop solar, with claims they can generate enough electricity for their home, but capital cost is closer to $20,000 I seem to recall. Then they get into tax credits, etc. and the net cost escapes me.
Is $1.4B the total cost, though?
Or just startup help?
“Is $1.4B the total cost, though?
Or just startup help?”
I have no idea. I assume until I learn more, that they mean “capital cost.”
I wish I had $100K. I would have a good solar system on the roof. I would also have a wind turbine. With all of that alternate energy, it would be spinning my power meter backwards so fast that I could live off the returns.
You believe the whole world will throw away all the engines to every plane, ship, train, truck and car that runs on petroleum products and replace them all? And in only a few years?
“With all of that alternate energy, it would be spinning my power meter backwards so fast that I could live off the returns.”
Not for 100K you couldn’t. It cost about 20K to put enough (20 year life span) solar cells on your roof to power the average home. Funny thing about that. That’s about the same amount you would pay for electricity from the electric company in 20 years. Not a good investment at all...
I thought they have beat the cost of solar cells with new technologies that have higher efficiencies. No such luck. And with today’s economic climate, any new technologies may be further down the road.
A little over $2 a watt. However when you need the most power is at night so you have to store it. That’s expensive as well.
“You said it...All these technologies are nothing new, just very expensive and the bottom line is return on investment.”
It’s actually worse than that... The reason prices are what they are is because that’s what people are willing to “pay” for electricity. It doesn’t matter what it costs to build them, they will sell them for what the market will bear. That’s between 5 and 10 cents a KW hour for the life of the cell.
Lets say you ot a real good buy on a large number (millions) of cells - at, say 10 cents on the dollar. What are you going to sell them for? Keep it in mind you could double your money at 20 cents on the dollar.
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