Wow!!  What will this cost the U.S. taxpayer.

snip~
Reuters) - First Solar Inc will build a 26-megawatt solar power plant for power producer NRG Energy Inc in Arizona under the latest deal between two of the biggest players in the U.S. renewable energy sector.

More @
http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-science/20120312/SCIENCE-US-NRGENERGY-FIRSTSOLAR/

What a fuckin mess of a rip off of taxpayers.

QuoteFirst Solar still snared $3.07billion in federal loan support this year for three other power plants, and about $456million in other loans went to Canadian companies so they could buy First Solar's panels.

All this, just to power a hand full of homes.

QuoteThe Topaz plant will have a maximum capacity of 550megawatts, making it the largest photovoltaic solar-power plant in the world, tied with another First Solar project now under way.

QuoteIn direct sunlight, the plant will generate enough electricity for about 137,500 homes at once, based on averages commonly used by Arizona utilities. California utilities generally estimate lower per-resident power use, and First Solar reports the plant will be able to power about 160,000 homes.

http://www.usatoday.com/USCP/PNI/MONEY/2011-12-08-PNI1208biz-first-solarART_ST_U.htm

It's a shame that the environmental nazis have given solar power such a bad name.

According to Wikipedia, First Solar has set records with the lowest cost per watt and highest efficiency for thin film solar panels.  And they're building huge commercial solar plants.

It make a lot of sense to me to get our energy directly from the sun, regardless of whether there are oil issues, or if CO2 is a problem or not, or anything else.  If we could just get the government out of this industry it could compete on merit and no one would denigrate it.

Quote from: KenJackson on March 24, 2012, 10:41:25 PM
It's a shame that the environmental nazis have given solar power such a bad name.

According to Wikipedia, First Solar has set records with the lowest cost per watt and highest efficiency for thin film solar panels.  And they're building huge commercial solar plants.

It make a lot of sense to me to get our energy directly from the sun, regardless of whether there are oil issues, or if CO2 is a problem or not, or anything else.  If we could just get the government out of this industry it could compete on merit and no one would denigrate it.

Hi Ken, I almost don't know where to begin.
First off, thin film is pretty much crap, and Solyndra really wasn't making the cheapest on the mkt. , it only appeared that way by fudging the numbers, you and I paid for, by the way.

But you are correct when you say Gov gave it a bad name, it was doing fine for decades on its own without Gov interference.
I was in the business decades before the gov screwed it up, in fact, that's why I quit, they completely ruined competition.

I personally love solar, but it never had nor ever will, have a place on the grid, it is perfect though, as a stand alone power source where power is unavailable.
I've lived on it for more than two decades and would never ever consider hooking to the grid.
The power never goes out, never a bill and no one knows just what I'm doing via a Smart meter.

QuoteI personally love solar, but it never had nor ever will, have a place on the grid, ...

Hi Solar,
May I quote you in ten or twenty years?

There was an infamous quote by some Watson, president of IBM, that said something to the effect of I see a total world market of about five computers.  Even though he was head of the most significant business machine company in the world, he couldn't see the importance of the computer, the most significant business machine in his future.

President Obama recently misquoted a previous president as saying he didn't know what good a telephone was for.  (I previously read that it was Taft that said that.)  In any case, it was hard back then to see that the telephone would amount to anything.

There are loads of such statements about cars, aircraft, television and in many areas of technology by people who we would have expected to know.

The problem with solar energy for the grid isn't the technology or the material.  It's government interference and tinkering.

Quote from: KenJackson on March 25, 2012, 05:31:47 AM
Hi Solar,
May I quote you in ten or twenty years?

There was an infamous quote by some Watson, president of IBM, that said something to the effect of I see a total world market of about five computers.  Even though he was head of the most significant business machine company in the world, he couldn't see the importance of the computer, the most significant business machine in his future.

President Obama recently misquoted a previous president as saying he didn't know what good a telephone was for.  (I previously read that it was Taft that said that.)  In any case, it was hard back then to see that the telephone would amount to anything.

There are loads of such statements about cars, aircraft, television and in many areas of technology by people who we would have expected to know.

The problem with solar energy for the grid isn't the technology or the material.  It's government interference and tinkering.

No, the problem with solar on the grid is the Gov, the only way solar would ever find its way to the grid is Gov mandates it.
The cost per watt comes out to roughly 10 times that of coal, nuclear and hydro.
There is more to just sticking up a bunch of panels and calling it a day, there are heavy infrastructure costs, add to that line loss through distance, and loss due to heat resistance.

Just because a plant puts out a certain amount of wattage at the source, is not what the end user is getting.
I was selling solar decades before it was cool, I designed systems for the Military.
When you design a system, you automatically write off 65% of production due to loss.

I could go into great detail, but I don't feel like typing that much.
But I will say this, these plants that are on line, or coming on line are making claims that would embarrass a pathological liar.
There are only two hours in a day when solar works at its optimum level, that is, unless you live in an area that hovers below the freezing line most of the year, but that's not where they are putting solar, they put it in the desert.

The energy producers received the carrot and the stick treatment from the gov when it came to so called green energy.
They promised them the world if they would use it, and threatened them with bankruptcy if they didn't.
That's the only reason energy companies are using it, they know if they don't play along, they will lose it all.

Go back and read the OP about how much is being spent on this one single farm, then do the math, it would break the average home owner if they actually had to pay real world price for that electricity.
But who is paying the difference? You and I and your great grand children and anyone else that pays taxes.

Like I said, I love solar, but I understand its limitation, and they are more than limitations where the grid is concerned, they are barriers, barriers that can't be broken, unless you have an bottomless treasury, which we don't.