Solar Plant Failures

Government planning and subsidies will make many nations the world's green energy powers, create millions of jobs, and supercharge the economy—or so we've heard. Results with solar make one wonder about this statement. In recent times a number of large scale solar plants have failed world-wide and these aren't the first failures of heavily taxpayer funded solar plants. Dozens of solar focused companies around the globe have disappeared through bankruptcy, insolvency, or just shutting their doors since 2009 when prices of solar panels plunged as competition from China increased.

United States

Recently Crescent Dunes Solar Energy plant operators filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. After years of accusations of mismanagement and unreliability in providing power, the plant's operator, Tonopah Solar Energy threw in the towel on July 30, 2021 and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, recording about $430 million in secured debt owed to the US Department of Energy (DOE). It is seeking a settlement under which DOE will recover less than half of the original loan, around $200 million. ¹ Frequent prolonged outages at the plant reduced the expected amount of energy and credits by 50 percent n 2019 and 25% in 2020 and beyond. Crescent Dunes was selling its power at about $135/MWh, while Techren Solar II in Nevada's Eldorado valley priced its power at approximately $30/MWh. The death knell sounded last summer with a catastrophic failure of the molten salt storage tanks that caused ground contamination and required the removal of the solar tower. ¹ Crescent Dunes is eerily reminiscent of the fall of solar power firm Solyndra in 2011, a colossal failure of government investment that left taxpayers on the hook for more than than $530 million. SunEdison was a red-hot company in a red-hot space—renewable energy. Its market capitalization reached nearly $10 billion, putting it on a par with the likes of Wynn Resorts of Las Vegas. With plans to buy Vivint Solar for $2.2 billion, SunEdison appeared unstoppable. ² Yet SunEdison filed for bankruptcy after 13 years of fast growth and federal support to the tune of $1.5 billion in taxpayer money. A company that was once worth more than $10 billion was now valued at $150 million. ³ In another case, shares of First Solar dropped more than 16% during extended trading recently after the company reported missing revenue expectations during the fourth quarter and issued weak full-year guidance. ⁴

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Spain

Seventeen years ago, Spain's socialist government decided to inject subsidies into renewable energy. As a result, thousands of Spanish families massively invested in photovoltaic energy. But, the dream rapidly turned into a nightmare. Over 62,000 recently went bankrupt after investing in solar panels. ⁵

Canada

Early in 2019, the Canadian city of Medicine Hat announced that it would cease operations at a concentrated solar plant after five years due to low production and spiraling expenses. The plant was expected to cost $9 million upon completion in 2014 but the city has had to pay an additional $3 million to cover overrunning expenses. With the facility producing less than one megawatt of power, Medicine Hat leadership decided to abandon the ineffective facility. ⁶ Much of the facility's struggles have been based on the geography of Canada, which is largely unsuitable for large-scale solar production due to lack of sunlight. Medicine Hat itself receives an average of 2,544 sunshine hours a year, significantly lower than the 3,470 sunlight hours a year enjoyed in California, the US state with by far the largest solar production.

Saudi Mega Solar Plant

In March 2019, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank and the Saudi Public Investment Fund announced plans for a titanic 200GW solar facility, which would increase the country's solar production by orders of magnitude, from, the 50MW installed by the end of 2018, and cost up to $200 billion. However, concerns over financing and support for the project have ultimately undermined its feasibility. ⁶

Germany

Germany's last remaining major solar manufacture, Bonn-based Solarworld, announced in 2017 that it would file for bankruptcy. Solarword's demise was the last in a spectacular series of solar manufacturer bankruptcies that swept actross Germany during 2017, with names like Solon, Solar Millennium and Q-cells going under. ⁷

Final Words

The idea that solar energy is a practical solution for reducing emissions of carbon dioxide is strictly a fantasy. James Hansen, the scientist who virtually created the global warming scare, says renewable energy is a grotesque solution for reducing emissions. The reason is that it costs about $140 per ton of emissions prevented by using solar energy. That is too expensive. Much better methods exist. Hansen advocates nuclear energy. The rapidly increasing emissions from China and India dwarf the emissions of the United States, and illustration of the irrelevant nature of the renewable energy enterprise. (8)

References

1. “How a high tech solar plant found its way to bankruptcy,” principia- scientific.com, February 14, 2022
2. Julie Creswell and Diane Cardwell, “Renewable energy stumbles toward the future,” The New York Times, April 22, 2018
3. Patrick Wood, “Pending bankruptcy of largest solar company puts alternative energy industry into full meltdown mode,” Canada Free Press, April 16, 2016
4. Pippa Stevens, “First Solar shares sink after revenue miss, disappointing guidance,” newsbreak.com, February 2, 2022
5. “Spain's solar energy crisis: 62,000 people bankrupt after inventing in solar panels,” realclearenergy.org, February 23, 2022
6. J. P. Casey, “Road to nowhere: great solar disappointments,” power-technology.com, November 6, 2019
7. Pierre Gosselin, “German-Spanish wind energy giant to lay off 6,000 workers citing changing market conditions,” notrickszone.com, November 7, 2017
8. Norman Rogers, “Another expensive solar scheme bites the dust,” americanthinker.com, January 8, 2020