Problems cast shadows of doubt on solar project

The unexpected deaths of kit foxes and discovery of ancient human settlements threaten to delay or even cancel a $1-billion, 250-megawatt installation on federal land in the desert near Blythe.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-solar-foxes-20120211,0,4708180.story

By Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times

February 11, 2012

Reporting from Blythe, Calif. -- One of California's showcase solar energy projects, under construction in the desert east of Los Angeles, is being threatened by a deadly outbreak of distemper among kit foxes and the discovery of a prehistoric human settlement on the work site.

The $1-billion Genesis Solar Energy Project has been expedited by state and federal regulatory agencies that are eager to demonstrate that the nation can build solar plants quickly to ease dependence on fossil fuels and curb global warming.

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Plans for Genesis call for parabolic-trough solar thermal technology to create enough energy to power 187,500 homes. But last fall, as crews began installing pylons and support arms for parabolic mirrors across 1,950 acres of land leveled by earthmovers, the company ran into unexpected environmental and cultural obstacles — the kind that critics say could probably have been avoided by more rigorous research and planning.

"The issues facing Genesis underline the notion that if you do something quick and dirty, you are going to wind up with big mistakes and unintended consequences," said Lisa Belenky, senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity.

(more at link)

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"The issues facing Genesis underline the notion that if you do something quick and dirty, you are going to wind up with big mistakes and unintended consequences," - a true statement about a large number of things in life.

So what about rooftop solar?

"On average a house that is 1600-2000 square feet and having electric appliances except for the furnace use an average of 1500Kwatt-hours per month making 50 Kwatt-hours per day and a total of 18,000 Kwatt-hours per year."

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_electricity_does_an_average_2-story_3-bedroom_house_use_per_day_per_month_or_per_year

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Based on the above info, a pure photovoltaic system needs to generate 50kwh in about 5 hours of average prime sunlight availability. So figure about 10kw per hour.

Currently, overall system efficiency gives us 10 watts per square foot. 10000/10 = 1000 square feet.

Assuming with HUGE volume the system price per square foot drops to $50, then $50,000 per installation for 20 years of electricity. So, for an average cost of $210 a month per installation, with 50 million installations ($126 billion per year),we can tell the greenhouse gas spewing utility companies to kiss our asses!

Plus, look at the employment picture. We would need more copper, lithium, and other materials, which means more miners and people to build and maintain the heavy equipment. Plus machinists, installers, individual system designers, truck drivers to deliver the systems, crane operators to put them in place, electricians to wire them up and maintain the inevitable corroded connections and damaged cells, etc.

Not to mention huge numbers of people can be hired to clean up the copper mining and battery construction and recycling messes.