A $1.0 BILLION OBAMA SOLAR FIASCO IN THE SOUTHWEST DESERT WENT BANKRUPT

Some years ago, Obama was touting concentrated solar plants with storage in the US Southwest desert.
None of those plants ever performed to design specifications.
Crescent Dunes, supposedly with 10 hours of thermal storage, produced only 20% of the annual VARIABLE, INTERMITTENT electricity it was designed to produce.
It went bankrupt after 5 years of "operation"!!
Guest Blogger / 6 hours ago

Guest post by Albert Parker

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crescent_Dunes_Solar_Energy_Project#/media/Fi...

It is in the news, as expected Crescent Dunes, the world largest concentrated solar power plant featuring 10 hours of molten salt thermal energy storage, just went bust.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/letters/letter-much-touted-cr...

https://www.cato.org/blog/crescent-dunes-another-green-flop

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/another-federally-backed-sol...

The electricity is produced, as usual, not when needed, but when the sun was shining (very often no electricity was produced when there was sun) 

See EIA data displayed on Wikipedia.

crescent

Thanks to the savvy energy administrators of the Obama era, the US taxpayers have thus paid unpredictable, solar electricity $2.38 per kWh.

Promises were, Crescent Dunes production would be in excess of 500,000 MWh per year over 25 years, or 12,500,000 MWh, of fully dispatchable (or sort of) electricity, at a cost of $0.08 per kWh.

The federal government provident the loan guarantees for the project, because no bank would loan money on such a risky project. With bankruptcy, the banks get paid the full amount of the loans, but taxpayers are screwed, again.

Any subsidies, tax credits and investment cash credits, etc., likely were collected upfront by the politically well-connected Obama, etc., friends, in the usual manner, all justified under the mantra of "saving the world".

VERMONT AND MAINE

Vermont and Maine have similar useless programs, using wind and solar electricity to power air source heat pumps, ASHPs, for heating houses and other buildings.

Most ASHP owners LOSE money if ALL costs are considered. See URL.

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/cost-savings-of-air-sou...

CADMUS Survey of Houses with ASHPs

 

CADMUS, an energy consultant hired by the Vermont Department of Public Service, performed a survey of 77 ASHPs at 65 sites in Vermont.

https://publicservice.vermont.gov/sites/dps/files/documents/2017%20...

 

Heat from Traditional Systems and ASHPs: CADMUS calculated the total season heat to buildings at an average of 92 million Btu per site

 

- The space heat to the sites was 65 x 92 million Btu/site = 5,980 million Btu from all fuels. See Note, and see URL, page 22

- The space heat provided by ASHPs was 77 x 21.4 million Btu/ASHP = 1,648 million Btu. See URL, page 21

- Traditional systems provided 5980 – 1648 = 4,332 million Btu, or 4332/5980 = 72% of the total space heat.

 

No wonder the energy cost savings were only $200/ASHP per year, instead of the $1200/y to $1800/y bandied about on websites of ASHP promoters. See URLs.

 

NOTE: Before ASHPs, the traditional systems provided all space heat and all DHW. ASHPs typically provide only space heat. The CADMUS report stated it obtained heat to buildings primarily from owner fuel and electric bills before and after ASHPs. That means the 92 million Btu/site likely included DHW. The CADMUS report does not clearly state, if the 5,980 million Btu includes DHW, which is about 15% of the total. If DHW is deducted, the adjusted heat to sites would be 5,083 million Btu, and the traditional systems, after ASHPs, would provide 5083 – 1648 = 3,435 million Btu, or 3435/5083 = 68% of the total space heat, which would be close to the estimate of 61% from the analysis method used in this article. See Appendix 2.

 

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/air-source-heat-pumps-a...

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/fact-checking-regarding...

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/vermont-baseless-claims...

 

Capital and Annual Operating Cost: CADMUS and VT-DPS concluded, on average, an owner invested $4500 in an ASHP (less with subsidies), but had energy cost savings of only $200/y; some had more savings than others.

 

Amortizing $4500/ASHP at 5%/y for 15 years (the factory warrantee is for 10 years), the annual payments would be $427.03/y.

https://www.myamortizationchart.com

 

In addition, there would be annual costs for scheduled and unscheduled service calls ($100+/call), likely involving parts and labor, plus annual costs for maintenance contracts ($100+/contract).

 

Those costs would be in addition to amortizing the cost of the traditional heating system investment over 15 years, plus the annual cost of service calls, likely involving parts and labor, and annual cost of maintenance contracts.

 

Independent energy systems engineers predicted installing ASHPs in energy-hog houses would result in an annual loss to owners, if overall costs of having two heating systems were accounted for, some years ago, but they were ignored.

 

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Comment by Willem Post on February 10, 2020 at 9:45am

When Barack Obama joined the U.S. Senate in 2005, he was a 43-year old former law professor making $85,000 a year.

In the 12 years since then, he won the White House, he earned $20 million by the end of 2017.

He bought a $5million house in Washington , DC, and a $15 million spread in Martha's Vineyard.

The in-house staff and maintenance, plus grounds staff and maintenance and real estate taxes is at least $400,000/y.

Paying a mortgage of 75% of $20 million, at 3.45%/y, over 25 years, would be about $900,000/y for 25 years.

https://www.myamortizationchart.com

His net worth must be around $40 - $50 million to enable him to live the good life. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2017/01/20/how-barack-oba...

Comment by Stephen Littlefield on February 7, 2020 at 6:15pm

Yes Willem, It's a twisted web that has been woven by the left with our money. It actually goes back further to Billy boy when he turned the largest clean coal deposit in the world into a national reserve making it untouchable. The second largest deposit is in China! Now to the present we have a leftist tyrant in the Blaine House doing a smaller version of incompetence on the state of Maine, which I suspect will enrich her worth along with Baldacci and King Anus. Truly sad that these people have no empathy for the hard working Mainers at all!

Comment by Willem Post on February 7, 2020 at 9:12am

Stephen,

I works as follows.

Obama is for solar energy.

He picks a yo yo from MIT to head the USDOE to chime in.

Obama, etc., calls his friends to tell them federal loan guarantees will be available for their risky solar projects; no bank would otherwise loan money!!

The understanding is, once Obama leaves office, friends hand him millions via phony book deals.

Obama buys a $5-million house in Washington, DC, and, a suitable time after leaving office, a $15 million SPREAD on Martha's Vineyard, a Democrat stronghold.

Biden lives in one of the nicest custom-built houses in Delaware; just Goggle

He has Poroshenko friends in Ukraine, and so does his son.

Comment by Stephen Littlefield on February 4, 2020 at 9:39pm

Obama's legacy just keeps on giving! Billions in bankrupt businesses and useless energy projects all on the taxpayers dollar!

Comment by Penny Gray on February 4, 2020 at 5:39pm

Ten hours of thermal storage for a billion dollars.  What a bargain!

U.S. Sen Angus King

THE UNTOLD STORY OF RECORD HILL WIND

The Untold Story of Record Hill Wind, continued

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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