Interior secretary unveils fast-track solar plan

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says the federal government is going to fast-track plans to build solar power generating facilities in six Western states.

[Michael]

Perfect, hooray and about time.

[CornDaddy]

This is good. It'll give us all a chance to see if this is a good idea from an economic standpoint and whether it should be implemented on a larger scale or not.

[Solarman]

O.K. so you 'fast track' the generation sites and get them online. How do you move the generated power to where it is needed? You need a power corridor to move the product after it is generated. So where are these power corridors going to come from? Will the EPA allow them to be built? Will the public NIMBY them away? This may end up like that bridge in Alaska that goes nowhere.

[soft landing]

Solarman wrote:

O.K. so you 'fast track' the generation sites and get them online. How do you move the generated power to where it is needed? You need a power corridor to move the product after it is generated. So where are these power corridors going to come from? Will the EPA allow them to be built? Will the public NIMBY them away? This may end up like that bridge in Alaska that goes nowhere.

Maybe, but try to stay positive, hon, this might work out wonderfully. Me wanna solar panels cheapo, maka my owna powerzappa!

[John]

The tree huggers don't want the area down there sprayed to kill the weeds these panels are supposed to be built on here in NM. So who wins, Fast Trackers or Tree huggers??? Should be interesting.

[CornDaddy]

John wrote:

The tree huggers don't want the area down there sprayed to kill the weeds these panels are supposed to be built on here in NM. So who wins, Fast Trackers or Tree huggers??? Should be interesting.

Maybe we need wild goat and sheep herds to keep the weeds down<G>...

[SmartGrid]

So they get it done, then what? I'll tell you what... smart grid. With the 'smart grid' now the utility companies will have the power to envoke hourly rate hikes to your billing. This will end up costing consumers much more in the end. If you presently spend $95 a month for electricity be prepared to spend $185 for the same (or less) electricity after 'smart grid' is done. The solar technology is good, only problem is that the utilities behind the big push to providing it with smart grid are not. It will be similar to looking at a itemized statement of your monthly cell phone bill where your 'unlimited' plan for $29.99 interprets into paying $60. Oh, that fee hike is because some clouds interrupted the power output from the solar panels etc...