Dear Editor:
A recent letter about solar generated electricity was interesting. Basically it stated solar panels are not worth it if you have to pay for them yourself, but the federal government will come to the rescue with money from the magic money tree in D.C.
I am not opposed to solar panels, just as I am not opposed to Elon Musk's toy electric cars. I am opposed to being forced to subsidize someone else's solar panel and am vehemently opposed to the crony capitalism of my tax dollars being used to stuff $7,500 into billionaire Musk's pocket every time a rich person buys one of his $85,000 toy electric cars.
Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California recently had a fire caused by a misaligned mirror. Its generating capacity, over two years after it started up, is now only a third of what was promised when government funds and loan guarantees were approved. According to a March 16 Wall Street Journal article Ivanpah may be forced to shut down because it falls so far short of its promised production. It is the facility that sets an average of one bird on fire every two minutes, as they fly through it.
Ivanpah was originally permitted to allow the burning of one billion cubic feet of natural gas a year, to heat up its boilers every morning. It has determined that it needs to burn more gas and has asked for its permit to be modified to allow it to burn over 1.5 billion cubic feet per year, enough to provide electricity to 35,000 California homes.
Electricity produced at Ivanpah sold for $200/megawatt-hour during the summer of 2015 and $135/megawatt-hour during the rest of the year. This compares to an average of $35/mega-watt hour for electricity produced by California's natural gas fired plants. (California state lawmakers have mandated that 33% of the power supplied by utilities must be from "renewable" sources, which is why Ivanpah can get away with these ridiculously high prices.
Everyone who wants to pay for solar should be able to do so should be able to but the rest of us should not have to subsidize their purchases.