The idea that solar energy is a practical solution for reducing emissions of carbon dioxide is strictly a fantasy.
Solar Plant Failure Deja Vu
Government planning and subsidies will make America the world's green-energy superpower, create millions of jobs, and supercharge the economy—or so we're told. The reality is closer to Crescent Dunes a Nevada solar energy plant that went bust after receiving a $737 million federal loan guarantee. 1
$737 million taxpayer money and an additional $140 million from private investors, Crescent Dunes never reached the initial promises
In 2011 the $1 billion project was to be the biggest solar plant of its kind, and it looked like the future of renewable power. The plant looks like something out of a sci-fi movie. Ten thousand mirrors form a spiral almost 2 miles wide that winds around a skyscraper rising above the desert between Las Vegas and Reno. The operation soaks up enough heat from the sun's rays to spin steam turbines and store energy in the form of molten salt. 2 During the day, sunshine is concentrated by motorized mirrors aiming beams of sunlight at a central tower, where the liquid salts are heated to a high temperature. The hot salts are stored in a large tank. When power is needed in the early evening, heat is taken from the tank to make steam and drive a turbine-generator to make electricity. 3
The plant's technology was designed to generate enough power night and day to supply a city the size of nearby Sparks, Nevada (population 100,000), but it never came close. Its power cost Nevada about $135 per megawatt-hour, compared with less than $30 per MWh today at a new Nevada photovoltaic solar farm. 2
Despite the $737 million taxpayer money and an additional $140 million from private investors, Crescent Dunes never reached the initial promises, the best case scenarios were already outmoded by the 2015 opening. Instead of 50 percent efficiency, the plant hovered at 20 percent. And the plant only ever secured one client, NV Energy, which couldn't rely on the plant to do its part. Industry people and locals say the plant's heat-focusing mirrors killed local wildlife, maybe more efficiently than they ever generated electricity. 4
SunEdison and Solyndra
So it was out of date and obsolete before it could even be completed. The Crescent Dunes plant opened outside of Las Vegas in 2015, when its technology was already behind, and the solar boom since then has completely eclipsed it. Now, the closed and abandoned plant is the subject of huge ongoing lawsuits.
This isn't the first failure 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.
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. 5
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. 6
Solarword’s demise was the last in a spectacular series of solar manufacturer bankruptcies that swept across 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 across Germany during 2017, with names like Solon, Solar Millennium and Q-cells going under.
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Norman Rogers notes, “Solar is useless because it can't replace the generating infrastructure of the traditional grid. In Nevada, an army of natural gas plants will never be replaced by solar. They have to remain because they are needed when solar stops working because it is cloudy or because it is night. All the solar accomplishes is to lower the utilization of these plants, saving some very cheap natural gas fuel. Without subsidies, using the cheaper photovoltaic plants, it cost about $80 per megawatt-hour to generate solar electricity. But electricity can be generated in the existing natural gas plants for $20 to $25 per megawatt-hour—the cost of the fuel. The massive government subsidies for solar make it seem closer to being competitive than it actually is.
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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, an illustration of the irrelevant nature of the renewable energy enterprise.
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References
- “The best laid energy plans. The feds bet $737 million on a salt water tower for solar power. You'll never guess the result,” The Wall Street Journal, January 16, 2020
- Chris Martin and Nic Querolo, “A $1 billion solar plant was obsolete before it ever went online,” Bloomberg Business Week, January 6, 2020
- Norman Rogers, “Another expensive solar scheme bites the dust,” americanthinker.com, January 8, 2020
- Caroline Delbert, “The $1 billion solar plant is an obsolete, expensive flop,” popularmechanics.com, January 10, 2020
- Julie Creswell and Diane Cardwell, “Renewable energy stumbles toward the future,” The New York Times, April 22, 2018
- Patrick Wood, “Pending bankruptcy of largest solar company puts alternative energy industry into full meltdown mode,” Canada Free Press, April 16, 2016
- Pierre Gosselin, “German-Spanish wind energy giant to lay off 6,000 workers citing changing market conditions,” notrickszone.com, November 7, 2017
Jack Dini -- Bio and
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Jack Dini is author of Challenging Environmental Mythology. He has also written for American Council on Science and Health, Environment & Climate News, and Hawaii Reporter.
