In California's Mojave Desert, Ivanpah project plans to build a 392- megawatt solar power plant over 3,500 acres of land. This power plant is projected to provide energy for 140,000 homes in California.
This projected is favored by many because it is a "clean energy." It is projected to have less pollution compared to the coal-plants currently used for energy, provide 1,000 jobs in construction, build a clean energy economy, reliable, and most of all, it's renewable.
Even though this may create another source of energy in California, is this worth it?
For the amount of land, destruction of the desert habitat, the loss of jobs after construction, and the high cost, is it profitable to deliver 2,600 mega-watt of energy to California's utilities?
Moreover, what if there's a better way to produce solar power tomorrow?
There will always be a better way to do something in the near future, but I still think your question is a good one. Solar technology and photovoltaic cells in particular have been becoming cheaper an more efficient for many decades and will continue to do so. So there will never be a "best" time to go into solar. Also with the jobs lost in the coal sector, will some of them be regained after construction through maintenance positions? If the state is concerned about the environment will they even allow production in a fragile desert habitat?
ReplyDeleteWell I had a whole long post typed up and then this thing deleted it! Fail. Lets see if I can repeat what I was trying to say:
ReplyDeleteOk, I think this is a brilliant idea! Something that creates jobs in the state our economy is in, is never a bad thing! And, it's mutually beneficial, because people will get jobs, and get cheaper electricity! But about the whole new technology thing. Yes, there may be a newer, better more efficient solar panel tomorrow, but is everyone supposed to just sit around and wait forever? Because there will almost always be newer and better things in the future. It's kinda like telling a student that they should wait to buy their laptop because there MAY be a new one coming out in June. But that doesn't help us because we need the laptop now. California (and the rest of the US), needs the power now. So I say go for it, and that it's a great idea and maybe other states will join in too!
I am very curious about the price of the energy considering that it will be sold differently from regular power agreements. Another think to consider is how long will this project take because yes it may employ 1000 people, but for how long? This project also uses a "Luz Power Tower" which i wonder how it compares to a regular photovoltaic solar panel. This project as a whole seems to be beneficial overall and on an economic side it appears that it would stimulate the economy, provide jobs, and work towards a more sustainable society in this area. I think that this is a good project and has great potential for this area.
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