Politicians love of Solar Power

After reading and hearing about Solyndra's going bankrupt after receiving a government loan, it got me to thinking.  Are there others, and if so how many?  Is Solar power as good as they say?

Let's take a look.  According to this article, "Republican lawmakers on two House committees are seeking details about the loans given to First Solar, SunPower Corp. and ProLogis. Of those three companies, troubling financial revelations have emerged about SunPower, which sponsored a solar project that received a $1.2 billion loan, more than twice the money approved for Solyndra, which filed for bankruptcy last month after receiving a $528 million loan."

"The company is also politically connected. Rep. George Miller's son is SunPower's top lobbyist. The elder Miller, a powerful California Democrat, toured the plant last October with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and reportedly said, "We've worked hard to make renewable energy a priority because it represents America's future economic growth."

 

According to this article, "The deals announced Friday include a $1.5 billion loan guarantee to Florida-based NextEra Energy and other investors that bought a planned 550-megawatt solar farm on federal land in Southern California from First Solar, as well as $646 million to Illinois-based Exelon Corp. for a 230-megawatt solar plant near Los Angeles. Next Era Energy Resources and GE Energy Financial Services bought the Desert Sunlight project from First Solar, while Exelon bought the Antelope Valley project. First Solar will continue to build and operate both projects.

A third project, worth $1.2 billion, will help San Jose-based SunPower Corp. build a 250-megawatt solar plant in California, while $1.4 billion will go San Francisco-based Prologis Inc. to support installation of about 750 solar rooftop panels in 28 states."

According to this article, "President Obama's nominee for Commerce secretary served as chairman of the board of a solar energy company that recently received a $1.37 billion federal loan guarantee – the largest the Department of Energy has ever given for a solar power project."

"Now that company, BrightSource Energy, is attempting to build the world's largest solar power plant amid concerns such ventures may be too risky an investment for the federal government."

In this article, "The Obama Administration is giving $737 million to a Tonopah Solar, a subsidiary of California-based SolarReserve. PCG is an investment partner with SolarReserve. Nancy Pelosi’s brother-in-law happens to be the number two man at PCG."

For as long as I can remember, Solar Power was suppose to be the best thing since sliced bread. How good is it?  Is putting solar panels on your house all there is to it?  Could it be that easy?  Well, if you look into it the answer is no.  There are many things like special batteries, an inverter, and a place to store those batteries, among other things.  This is not cheap.

I ran across this article, "In Italy last year, "they discovered that after one year in the field, over 90% of the (solar panels) from a one megawatt project began to delaminate and ended up on the ground."

That pretty much answered my question.  After all the years of trying to get us to purchase Solar Power, I can't help but think that if it were such a great thing for us, why isn't it more popular?  Well, I have my answer now.  It's no wonder the politicians like Solar Power.  Pay back to family and friends.