Comments about ‘Solar array will generate power, business for Salt Palace Convention Center’

I am surprised that they make the numbers for stuff like this public. 6 million dollars spent to save $2.4 million after 25 years? Let me guess, 25 years is probably the mean time between failures for the solar panels right? So this will NEVER be a net positive for anyone except the Chinese who sold us the solar panels...and the Chinese who lent us the money that we DO NOT HAVE for boondoggles like this!

Yeah!

Finally,
a glimmer of hope in the Smog filled Valley of the Dark Ages.

"25 years is probably the mean time between failures for the solar panels right?"

No, 25 years is the warranty period on most panels. There are plenty of 40 year-old panels in use today that are still operating.

Did you not read the article? There is a net savings to the Salt Palace _and_ it creates an incentive to groups to book their meetings there. The Salt Palace isn't spending $6.6 million.

If you want to complain about something, start with the fact that the Chinese are out-producing in areas of alternative energy.

Just curious, in the winter, I suppose snow covers the pannels? Are they going to hire people to clean them off, or will this not be enough of a problem to worry about?

Solar photovoltaic cells are a waste of taxpayer money; expensive and inefficient, the only way they make any sense is through Government subsidies, and stupid subsidies is a big reason the country is going broke.

I just feel sorry for the roofer who has to replace the roof when it is time. Can you imagine having to talk all those down, including the frames? Can you imagine what the roof will cost to redo?

Boy, the numbers on this fiasco are really telling.

4.5 acres of solar panels to produce 1.65 Mw of electricity at a cost of $6.6 Million (at least $2.9 Million of which comes from us, the tax payers, via either grants or tax credits to JP Morgan). All of which only produces 17% of the demand and will recoup only $2.4 Million over 25 years!

Not hard to figure out why the $535 Million the Obama Administration dumped into Solyndra went right down the drain. And, almost certainly, into some well-connected pockets.

"This project was made possible by an unprecedented private-public partnership and serves as an example of the significant and untapped solar potential in the state of Utah." Yeah, right. The so-called "private funding" coming from JP Morgan, as noted in the article, will be reimbursed with taxpayer money. Every dime of this project is paid for by you and me.

'Opinionated' makes a good point of what it will take to perform roof maintenance. That could be a nightmare. 'cjb' brings up another good point about snow cover. How about the damage to all these cells when the first major hail storm comes cruising by? That certainly couldn't be good for them.

In all these calculations, has anyone taken into account all of these repair and maintenance costs? Or is that conveniently left out?

Conservatives hate solar energy.

What will you do when oil runs out? It will. There isn't an infinite supply.

I think its great that we are investing in solar. Its clean power. Electricity is only one return on the investment. Clean air and better health is another. Conservation of our limited resources is another. Another return is that we are supporting this industry. As time goes on, these pannels become less and less expensive. If no one bought the pannels, the industry would die.

I hope the price of solar will continue to decrease. As this happens (knock on wood) we will become less and less dependent on resources that are finite and that are polluting.