07.11
Now you can get your Justice Department to sue a place like that, and a number of States and localities can ban economic activities with a “Rogue State” that insists on enforcing one federal law in violation of another, (at least that’s the claim), but whatever you do, Don’t Stop Spending! If I believed in conspiracy theories I might could maybe come up with a group of people about to receive some of those “Green Jobs” we all hear about. Some Plans are too big to fail.
US Commits Nearly $2 Billion to Two Solar Power Companies
Posted by Staff on Monday, July 5, 2010
Two solar energy companies are looking to expand with the help of nearly $2 billion in new financing through the US Recovery Act, President Barack Obama announced over the weekend.
During his weekly address, Obama said the Department of Energy would provide $1.45 billion in conditional commitment funds to Abengoa Solar, as well as additional funding to Abound Solar Manufacturing for three massive construction projects.
Abengoa Solar plans to build the largest concentrating solar plants in the world in Arizona. When completed, the 250-megawatt facility known as Solana is expected to provide enough clean energy to power 70,000 homes.
“After years of watching companies build things and create jobs overseas, it’s good news that we’ve attracted a company to our shores to build a plant and create jobs right here in America,” Obama said of Abengoa. “In the short term, construction will create approximately 1,600 jobs in Arizona. What’s more, over 70 per cent of the components and products used in construction will be manufactured in the USA, boosting jobs and communities in states up and down the supply chain. Once completed, this plant will be the first large-scale solar plant in the US to actually store the energy it generates for later use — even at night.”
Meanwhile, Obama continued, Abound Solar “will manufacture advanced solar panels at two new plants, creating more than 2,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs. A Colorado plant is already underway, and an Indiana plant will be built in what’s now an empty Chrysler factory. When fully operational, these plants will produce millions of state-of-the-art solar panels each year.”
If President Obama had spent more of his young life in the U.S. or when he was here spent a bit more time working in the private sector, he might have seen people build things and create jobs in this country as well.
In case you missed it, Abengoa Solar is based in Spain. Quite obvious no U.S. based firms could have the technology to build such an advanced facility. The new plant will be a solar collector type, using the suns heat energy to create steam to power electric generators. The plant will store as much as 6 hours worth of energy for use at night. Are the nights really that short in Arizona? Back-up power will be needed.
And another interesting note — Ina comment to a post at the Junk Science Forum concerning a new tidal generation plant being built in Ireland, I said in part: “It looks interesting but it is rather early to tell how practical. The cost of the generator is given as 20 million dollars and it might power a thousand homes. That comes out to $20,000 per home exclusive of maintenance and power transmission charges. Depending on the type of conventional plant the construction cost per kilowatt can be less than one tenth as much.”
“Without fuel charges, and setting the kwh charge at $0.20 and using $0.07 for the maintenance and distribution charge, the pay back on this plant exclusive of interest would be more than 15 years. With interest added and with out operating subsidies this generator will never turn a profit to anyone but the manufacturer. So add in some taxes and it is easy to see construction costs will need to go down for this to be an affordable solution.”
Now if you take the 1.45 Billion this Arizona plant is supposed to cost, and divide by 70,000 families. once more you come out to a bit more than $20,000 per home. Is that the going rate for “Green Power”?
