World's largest solar plant opens in California desert It couldn't come at a better time, what with a substantial portion of Cali electricity coming from hydro - and those generators - due to drought, are getting closer & closer to the level where they'll be sucking air instead of water.
I hope they don't suffer buyer's remorse, when something cheaper and more efficient becomes available.
+1 True dat. But this is anouther lame idea. The idea that bigger is better. IMHO it is not, so hopefully this will give us numbers so we don't have to subsidize a project like this again. But at the end of the article we get ... I don't think its a good idea to pave the desert to save the environment. 100 MW and less solar projects and wind farms produce lower cost renewable energy and less negative environmental impact if they are subsidized the same. Let's learn from the project but build renewables in smarter ways.
I think it runs the risk of becoming a white elephant. That could happen if a breakthrough occurs that lowers the cost/W considerably. There's no chance of "paving over the desert." with solar panels. We'll never have the resources or the money to ever do that. Next time you fly across the country, try to take account of the sheer vastness of uninhabited areas. The lands you see along the roadsides are almost nothing compared to the whole counrty.
Anyone else read today's article about the UC Berkeley 10 year study pinpointing an increase in CO2 with increase in earth heating (something like J per square kilometers or SLT, see article) Anyway, test confirms what IPCC has been saying for many years. What do I say to the deniers or Don't carers' ..... Go find another planet to live on, now!!
