Posted by Tina
The Ivanpah solar thermal project in California is not delivering energy as hoped for the California utilities that relied on this project to meet regulation requirements. the requirements mandate that a large and rising fraction of California’s electricity must be met by renewable energy sources. It should be noted that the utilities also pay more for green energy than they pay for energy derived from conventional sources. You can guess what’s coming. As is often the case when big government beds down with big corporate investors to push an agenda it fails. What’s next? This project has now been deemed, “too big to fail.” Enter the California Public Utilities Commission to extend the time period for meeting regulated production targets. This game could go on and on and what do we get? Higher energy prices and the burden of the subsidy.
The Daily Signal itemizes the problems with Ivanpah:
Is owned by Google, NRG Energy, and Brightsource, who have a market cap in excess of $500 billion
Received $1.6 billion in loan guarantees from the Department of Energy
Is paid four to five times as much per megawatt-hour as natural-gas powered plants
Is paid two to three times as much per megawatt-hour as other solar power producers
Has burned thousands of birds to death
Has delayed loan repayments
Is seeking over $500 million in grants to help pay off the guaranteed loans
Burns natural gas for 4.5 hours each morning to get its mojo going
Brightsource, which is privately held, is owned by a virtual who’s who of those that don’t need subsidies from taxpayers and ratepayers.
Unlike the solar fields that convert energy from the sun to electricity, this $2.2 billion project uses energy from the sun to boil water that drives turbines. Follow the link provided to view a photo of the plant and read the rest of the story.
While the President was visiting in Argentina he remarked that the private sector was important for jobs and the economy but a better way was government . When the President was in Argentina recently he remarked that the private sector created jobs and the economy but that a better way to accomplish this was when government worked with the private sector to get things done. This is an example of how that model works. Instead of wealthy investors taking the risk of untried ideas, the taxpayer takes that risk and very often ends up paying more in out of pocket costs and added taxes. The government should not pick and choose and it should not subsidize millionaires and billionaires for untried projects.
Crony capitalism, which is often erroneously conflated with corporatism these days, at its best. Corporations seeking passage of, or taking advantage of government regulations, and political corruption to do and end run around the principles of free market capitalism in order to give them an advantage.
Hearings soon In Lake Havasu City. Seems the local utility company – Unisource – wants to slip in a “demand” charge to calculate utility bills based on the one hour highest energy use in a month, and folks get to voice their opinions to the AZ Corporation Commission (equivalent of Taxifornia’s PUC). Expect comments to be loud and irate.
Folks in AZ who have invested in solar systems to save $$ and energy, and the then utility companies want to add additional charges for the privilege of having solar.
And – as always – the customer or taxpayer takes it in the shorts.
And you can bet they will take it in the shorts again and again when government gets in the middle of things that should remain in a competitive free market.
If only the head-in-the-clouds public knew the number of ways they get taken we’d have a chance of getting our republic and a thriving economy back. We pay so much more for things than we need to. Between government intervention and government devaluing the dollar it’s a wonder people can afford anything beyond the most basic. And of course we don’t. How many people have quit using air conditioning and heating in their homes because utility costs have gotten too high? And what has been gained. In winter we turn to wood stoves. In summer, the elderly and sick expire from the heat.
Look at the price of a gallon of gas!
The following article from Exxon is from 2014 but is still instructive regarding who we pay at the pump:
At the pump you are paying a very high tax to the federal and state governments and for that tax while your roads and bridges have fallen into dramatic and dangerous disrepair. What is wrong with this picture?
The corporations profit by 5.5 cents per gallon. Taxes imposed by the US government and California in 2014 were 70 cents a gallon. What are we buying with that hefty added charge? I can tell you what we don’t get; we don’t the great infrastructure that those dollars SHOULD BUY!
Politicians then complain to the electorate to get votes and the circle of deceit and betrayal continues.