September 22, 2007
The Power of Regulation
Professor Reynolds links to this as good news:
"The economist reports that Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems that capture and focus the sun's rays to heat a working fluid and drive a turbine, are making a comeback. Although the world's largest solar farm was built over twenty years ago, until recently no new plants have been built. Now with the combination of federal energy credits, the enactment of renewable energy standards in many states, and public antipathy to coal fired power plant, the first such plant to be built in decades started providing 64 megawatts of electricity to Las Vegas this summer. Electricity from the Nevada plant costs an estimated 17 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), but projections suggest that CSP power could fall to below ten cents per kWh as the technology improves. Coal power costs just 2-3 cents per kWh but that will likely rise if regulation eventually factors in the environmental costs of the carbon coal produces."
To be fair, Instapundit doesn't give it a glowing endorsment, but the link asks "A BRIGHT FUTURE for large-scale solar farms?"
I expected to read of a technological breakthrough in Photovoltaics, inspired by nanotechnology -- or something. Instead I read that Federal regulation and "public antipathy" are now deemed sufficient to rethink a process that is six times less efficient than existing mechanisms. Oh boy.
Where can I go long public antipathy? I think that's a growth market.