Why solar power is insanity.....

[Hobo1]

Wouldn't it make more sense for a power company or even a private company to set up a solar farm in some sunny place and then let everybody buy a certain number of panels? Then the central company could generate the electricity, feed it into the grid, and you can take a corresponding amount of electricity off the grid.

It just seems like solar power can be produced at a much lower cost when it is set up on a large scale.

 

[Dr.Who]

Wouldn't it make more sense for a power company or even a private company to set up a solar farm in some sunny place and then let everybody buy a certain number of panels? Then the central company could generate the electricity, feed it into the grid, and you can take a corresponding amount of electricity off the grid.

It just seems like solar power can be produced at a much lower cost when it is set up on a large scale.

And yet that is rarely happening. Which makes one think that perhaps it does not make sense.

But suppose it did. It could make millions for the guy who developed it. You could be that guy. You could find someone who understand how to set one up, find some investors and have it built.

 

[dahermit]

And yet that is rarely happening. Which makes one think that perhaps it does not make sense.

But suppose it did. It could make millions for the guy who developed it. You could be that guy. You could find someone who understand how to set one up, find some investors and have it built.

As with electric cars, you are behind in the current state of solar power. It is being done now.

http://search.aol.com/aol/search?s_it=wscreen-searchboxhtml&q=solar+farm

 

[Dr.Who]

As with electric cars, you are behind in the current state of solar power. It is being done now.

http://search.aol.com/aol/search?s_it=wscreen-searchboxhtml&q=solar+farm

I opened your link, I grabbed the second one (kind of at random) and did a quick internet search. The first article I found on it says:

"And yet, like alternative energy projects around the country, the future of Topaz Solar Farm has been brought into question by the world financial crisis. As a startup, albeit a large one, OptiSolar is going to need to get its hands on a great deal of capital. A company spokesman declined to specify the estimated cost of the project-which OptiSolar will build, soup to nuts-but it is almost certain to exceed $1 billion. The current seizing up of credit and private equity investment could make raising such a sum difficult.

Many observers are speculating that the alternative energy industry is facing a serious downturn. Energy analysts are worried about the credit freeze and the recent sharp drop in the price of oil, along with the possibility that federal funding will diminish as a consequence of the fiscal burden created by the financial crisis. According to a recent story in the New York Times, financing for alternative energy projects fell to about $18 billion in the third quarter, compared to over $23 billion in the second. It’s likely to fall even further in the fourth quarter. The Topaz Solar Farm represents by far the most ambitious solar energy project ever proposed; whether it comes to fruition could be a bellwether of the industry’s health as a whole.

Everyone interviewed agreed that for the clean technology industry to continue growing, local, state, and federal help is necessary."

http://www.independent.com/news/2008/oct/26/will-central-coasts-alternative-energy-businesses-/

In other words, in the very best place in the US to build a solar plant it cannot exist without huge government subsidies!!!

 

[dahermit]

In other words, in the very best place in the US to build a solar plant it cannot exist without huge government subsidies!!!

They can get all the money they need by taxing crack-pot psychologists who do nothing except sit in an upholstered chair all day nodding sagely.

The alternative to not developing alternative energy sources, is more coal burned as the consumer demand increases. Higher prices for oil-based electrical plants, increased dependence upon foreign sources for oil which is ever more costly because of political, increased demand from China and India.