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Old February 22nd, 2015 #1
Dawn Cannon
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Default Large Scale Solar Power

Despite $39B in Annual Gov't. Subsidies, Solar Produced 0.5% of Electricity in US

(CNSNews.com) – Despite receiving an estimated $39 billion in annual government subsidies over the past five years, the solar energy industry accounted for just one half of one percent (0.5%) of all the electricity generated in the U.S. during the first 10 months of 2014, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Between January and October of last year, the U.S. produced a total of 3,431,473 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity. But only 15,973 million kWh were generated by solar thermal or photovoltaic (PV) solar modules that use semiconducting materials to convert sunlight into electricity, according to EIA's latest Monthly Energy Review.

The amount of solar power generated last year was up from the 9,252 million kWh produced in 2013, but still remained a tiny fraction of the nation’s total power generated in 2014 despite billions of dollars in subsidies spent on hundreds of solar programs at the federal, state and local level.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) “Sunshot Initiative” proposes to have solar energy account for 14 percent of all electricity generated in the U.S. by 2030 and 27 percent by 2050. But even among renewable energy sources, solar still accounts for just a small percentage, according to the EIA.

Although sunlight is free, capturing and storing the sun’s energy in the form of electricity is definitely not. Diana Furchtgott-Roth, a former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor, noted last year that “if the 27 percent of U.S. electricity generated by natural gas came instead from solar power, consumer costs for monthly electric bills would increase about 25 percent.”

In 2008, then presidential candidate Barack Obama promised five million new “green” jobs, including jobs in the solar industry, where employment increased 22 percent between November 2013 and November 2014.

However, a January 27, 2015 report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) stated that “the solar manufacturing sector supported 32,490 jobs nationwide in 2014,” which amounted to just a “tiny sliver of the more than 12 million domestic manufacturing jobs in 2014.”

Competition from China, which manufactures 70 percent of the world’s solar panels, and the availability of cheap natural gas to generate electricity has negatively impacted a number of American solar companies, mostly located in California, Ohio, Oregon, Texas and Washington State.

”Some PV manufacturers have closed their U.S. operations, some have entered bankruptcy, and others are reassessing their business models,” the CRS reported, adding that “a large share of the facilities that have closed [including Solyndra, Inc.] operated for less than five years.”

“In the absence of continued government support for solar installation or for the production of solar equipment, the prospects for expansion of domestic PV solar manufacturing may be limited,” CRS noted.

Even with massive government subsidies, some solar projects have not lived up to expectations.

For example, a project to install solar panels on schools and other public buildings in three counties in New Jersey that was supposed to pay for itself by allowing the counties to sell excess electricity back to the grid was touted as a national model four years ago. But the deal has gone sour, with only half of the work completed and taxpayers on the hook for $88 million.

"Solar energy remains prohibitively expensive - often three times more than electricity produced from natural gas and other sources," according to a report by the Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) entitled Filling the Solar Sinkhole: Billions of Bucks Have Delivered Too Little Bang.

That includes the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California, the largest solar power plant of its type in the world, which generated only about half of the electricity it was expecting to produce last year due to “fewer sunny days” than initially predicted.

“Despite reaping $1.6 billion in subsidies, [Ivanpah] produces electricity at a cost 3 times higher than traditional power and has requested $539 million in additional direct handouts from the federal government,” the report said.

“We’re shining a bright spotlight on the darker side of solar power,” said TPA president David Williams. “Taxpayer-backed loans to the solar industry, bailouts, and publicly funded grants cost Americans more than $39 billion annually. Despite these massive costs, taxpayers aren’t even benefitting with lower electricity prices.”

In addition to the federal tax credits, grants, guaranteed loans and other subsidies, "there are 43 different solar-power-related tax breaks available across 20 states" as well as "538 different state and local green energy rebate programs across the United States," TPA researchers found.

"These schemes are intended to reduce the final cost of products including solar water heaters and grid-connected rooftop solar panels to make them more appealing to customers." However, even with generous government subsidies, including a tax credit that reduces the cost of installing solar panels by 30 percent, "none of it has worked," the TPA report concluded.

"With so little to show for so many costly initiatives, it should be apparent to objective observers that federal solar power efforts have not been a productive or prudent use of precious tax dollars."



http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/...05-electricity
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Old February 22nd, 2015 #2
cillian
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I think I just came up with the solution to the inefficiency of solar power. What they should do is have a series of mirrors concentrate the rays of the sun into a point, like a laser. Then shoot the laser into a big pile of coal, that powers an electric generator.
 
Old March 19th, 2016 #3
Dawn Cannon
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Default This May Be The Most Spectacular Failure Of Solar Power Ever



The 2.2 billion Ivanpah solar project in California’s Mojave Desert is definitely high-tech. Those tiny white rectangles in the picture above are more than 170,000 mirrors, each about the size of a garage door, that rotate to follow the path of the sun across the sky. Solar-thermal technology was meant to supersede old-fashioned solar panel farms. The mirrors would reflect the sunlight to the huge “power towers,” enormous pillars to create steam which would generate electricity. It is not only the world’s largest solar project, it is also known as “the world’s largest outdoor bird fryer.”

The facility was built by Bright Source Energy Inc, and operated by NRG Energy Inc. NRG owns the facility along with Bright Source, Google and other investors. When I wrote about Ivanpah last November, they were delivering only 40% of their promised electricity, and they were trying to get a federal grant to pay off their $1.6 billion federal loan.

Now comes news that the Ivanpah solar plant may be forced to shut down. It is not producing the electricity it is contractually required to deliver to PG&E Corp., which says the solar plant may be forced to shut down if they don’t receive a break from state regulators. PG&E is asking the California Public Utilities Commission for permission to overlook the shortfall and give Ivanpah another year to sort out its problems. The extension request is opposed by some consumer groups, who are complaining that the cost of the electricity from the struggling plant is exorbitant. There is no mention in the article of whether or not they got the federal grant to pay off their federal loan. The high-tech power towers just aren’t working as advertised.

The huge array is owned by BrightSource Energy Inc., NRG Energy Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Government subsidy is what brings these projects to fruition and what brings investors who expect to be rewarded by the government subsidies. Over and over, across the world, when taxpayer subsidy is removed, the project shuts down.

In neighboring Nevada I had read recently that when Nevada withdrew the state subsidy, Elon Musk pulled out, but I apparently didn’t save the article.When I consulted Google, the headlines from the articles about Elon Musk and SolarCity are so completely fascinating that I couldn’t resist linking to that page.

The federal government has no business using taxpayer money to pick winners and losers in the business marketplace.


https://americanelephant.wordpress.c...ar-power-ever/
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Last edited by Dawn Cannon; March 19th, 2016 at 03:11 AM.
 
Old March 19th, 2016 #4
Zorost
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It's disgusting how so many just don't understand. They act like this failure was a big surprise to all involved. As soon as the government began throwing money around, people stopped caring if it worked or not. All they cared about were loan guarantees and grants, because they could pay themselves 7 figure salaries, pick up even more in kickbacks for contracts, then when it failed they could just peace-out to the next scam. Al Gore has done this a bunch of times, at least once getting out just before a bunch of his buds received jail time, and people still think he is some kind of enviro Jesus.
 
Old March 20th, 2016 #5
Dawn Cannon
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Default Energy Masterminds: German PV Power Costs 50 Cents To Produce, Gets Less Than 4 Cents On The Market

Germany’s Federal Ministry for Commerce And Energy (BMWi) presents a brochure every year with the feed-in act in figures. The brochure lists the costs of the Energiewende (energy transition) in detail. Germany’s EEG feed-in act total subsidy for supporting the Energiewende and expanding renewable energies in 2014 cost approx. 24 billion euros. In 2015 the cost is projected to be some 27 billion euros. From the BMWi figures, it is clear that the major cost driver in Germany’s Energiewende is photovoltaic power.

The following table lists the photovoltaic (PV) power produced in the years 2000-2015 (which was subsidized by the EEG), the average EEG subsidy per kilowatt-hour of solar energy 2000-2015, and the total EEG subsidy for solar energy for PV power ín billions of euros 2000-2015.

The total EEG subsidies paid for PV power rose from 0.015 billion euros in 2000 to almost 11 billion euros in 2015! This is increase is completely due to the installation of total PV capacity shown by the blue bars in the following chart.



The red bars in the above chart show the total subsidies paid each year for PV power. 2015 will see close to 11 billion euros paid in subsidies to support solar power. The heavy black line shows the amount of new installations. New PV installations have trailed off since subsidies for solar energy were scaled back in 2012.

Total installed photovoltaic capacity in Germany has risen from 1 GW in 2003 to almost 40 GW today. The average EEG subsidy for PV power has fallen from 50 cents per kilowatt hour to 30 cents today. Thus the addition of PV capacity continues to surpass the significantly reduced EEG subsidy for PV power, which means total subsidies doled out continue to rise.

With 11 billion euros, PV is the major cost driver of the Energiewende, and accounts for 40% of the total EEG subsidies of 27 billion euros to be paid out this year.

For the 11 billion euros in subsidies, about 1 billion euros of power is actually marketed. That means the subsidies cost a net 10 billion euros annually, which power consumers are forced to pay. That turns out to be about 2.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. For an average household that means about 90 euros per year in extra costs.

For the photovoltaic producers, it’s a great business: Many get 50 cents per kilowatt hour (guaranteed 20 years) while the same kilowatt gets sold for only 3 to 4 cents on the market.

Read here to see the impact this has had on German CO2 emissions (none). Is this insanity, or not?

http://notrickszone.com/2016/03/19/e....tQd12DUo.dpbs


Some comments:

Quote:
Mike Haseler (Scottish Sceptic)

Back in 2000, it was well known that the only form of solar power that was sensible was solar hot water heating – something so good that in many cases it didn’t need any subsidy at all.

But that was the problem – because how could the sharks who use “green=gullible” energy to line their pockets, line their pockets from solar if it meant solar hot water heating which needed next to no subsidy.

It would have been cheaper to cover every house with PV with gold leaf – and it would probably have been far more environmentally beneficial.


Quote:
Mikky

Reading reports from solar enthusiasts makes it clear that they are only in it for the subsidies, paid for by the poor and elderly who can’t milk the system. Hopefully battery storage will develop soon to the point where surplus electricity can be stored locally, no need to sell it to the grid, i.e. no need for payment. Go Elon Musk, make my day!
Quote:
DirkH

Oh, a Muskian. Well Lithium Carbonate prices just shot to the moon. So good luck with that.
https://dirkhblog.wordpress.com/2016...are-exploding/

BTW Musk develops nothing of note. Li-Ion is old tech. I’ve been helping in a German project that developed a Lithium battery rack for home solar storage in 2009/2010 (subsidized of course). It’s a boring old battery and some inverters.

Nothing of what Musk does is new. He’s just the most successful subsidy tycoon, probably through political connections.
Quote:
Green Sand

In with a bang, out without even a whimper!

‘Tesla Discontinues 10-Kilowatt-Hour Powerwall Home Battery’

“The economics for backup power alone just aren’t that attractive.

Tesla has quietly removed all references to its 10-kilowatt-hour residential battery from the Powerwall website, as well as the company’s press kit. The company’s smaller battery designed for daily cycling is all that remains.

The change was initially made without explanation, which prompted industry insiders to speculate. Today, a Tesla representative confirmed the 10-kilowatt-hour option has been discontinued……”

Did Musk get funding to develop ‘Powerwall’?
 
Old September 6th, 2019 #6
Dawn Cannon
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Default Renewables: Tripling the price of electricity within a 4 year period

If you can't listen to the woman (elsewhere she says Assad is a 'bad guy'), go straight to the man @ 1:00.

"What they had in South Australia was the largest battery in the world. You would need 225 (of the largest battery they had in South Australia) to run Victoria's electricity grid for SIX hours in the middle of the night."


Good comment:
Oh hell, I thought if I left NZ it would be better in Australia but you've got the same lunatics there too
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The Bloodbath is Coming
7.6 billion savages multiplying and running wild over the earth, devouring everything in sight, trampling over every other lifeform without mercy or compassion.
 
Old February 14th, 2021 #7
Dawn Cannon
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Default Germany Desperate For Coal Power, As Wind & Solar Power Fail

Germany’s held up as the world’s wind and solar capital. But, at the moment, the ‘green’ stuff can’t be purchased, at any price.

Its millions of solar panels are blanketed in snow and ice and breathless, freezing weather is encouraging its 30,000 wind turbines to do absolutely nothing, at all. [Note to Ed: don’t forget about the constant supply of electricity from the grid that these things chew up heating their internal workings so they don’t freeze up solid!]

So much for the ‘transition’ to an all wind and sun powered future – aka the ‘Energiewende’.

Despite being the object of consternation and much vilification over the last 20 years, Germany’s coal-fired plants are now being appreciated for what they are: truly meaningful power generation sources, available on demand, whatever the weather. With a Nationwide blackout a heartbeat away, the German obsession with unreliable wind and solar is like a time bomb set to explode.


NoTricksZone reports on Germany’s (needs driven) change of heart.

Berlin On The Brink! Winter Blackouts Loom As Coal Plants Run At 100% Capacity, Struggle To Keep Lights On In
No Tricks Zone
Pierre Gosselin
28 January 2021

Germany now finds itself in the dead of winter. Much of the country has seen considerable snowfall, meaning solar panels are often covered by snow and thus rendered useless. Even without snow cover, the weeks-long overcast sky prevents any noteworthy solar power generation.

Moreover, this winter there have been many long windless periods, and so Germany’s approx. 30,000 wind turbines have been largely out of operation. In a world 100% reliant on green energies, this would mean near 100% darkness at home.

Luckily Germany’s still existing coal and nuclear power infrastructure is (still) there to step in and keep the power on and the country running.

https://stopthesethings.com/2021/02/...l-fired-power/



The figures speak for themselves. During the last four days, wind power has only supplied 15% of Germany’s electricity. Solar power is essentially a waste of space, running at 2%:



https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.word...ar-power-fail/

Last edited by Dawn Cannon; February 14th, 2021 at 12:21 PM.
 
Old February 14th, 2021 #8
Stronza
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Dawn, you are so right. At best, solar, wind, etc. have to be helpers and not something we should even think of being totally dependent on.
 
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