Green Energy Produces Red Ink
All the European PIIGS [Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain] have tried [solar energy subsidies]– and the waste of taxpayer funds on failing green energy schemes is a major reason for their parlous financial state.
By Viv Forbes, Chairman, The Carbon Sense Coalition
The Carbon Sense Coalition today called on the Australian government to stop forcing the community to waste valuable savings and resources on building useless solar energy plants.
The Chairman of Carbon Sense, Mr Viv Forbes, said solar energy was expensive, unreliable and unnecessary.
“Nowhere in the world has solar energy proved a sensible investment of tax payer funds. Green dreamers and speculators should be free to build the own monuments to the sun god, but ordinary mortals should not be forced to pay for their fetish.
Examples of solar stupidity abound.
Generating electricity from solar panels in cold, cloudy Northern Europe is like growing paw-paws in Iceland – it can be done, but who would be so silly as to try?
Germany was silly enough to try. Germany gets about an hour of useful sunshine per day in winter – solar power is weakest just when they need it most. But they have installed about half of the world’s solar panels. Germany’s Q-Cells, once the world’s biggest manufacturer of solar panels, just went broke. So did four other German solar companies.
Sunny California also tried, but despite a half billion dollar loan from US tax payers, solar panel manufacturer Solyndra went broke. Solar Trust of America, recently offered $2 billion in loan guarantees by US tax payers, has also filed for bankruptcy.
All the European PIIGS have tried – and the waste of taxpayer funds on failing green energy schemes is a major reason for their parlous financial state.
The only sensible participant in the solar industry is China – they make panels very cheaply using coal or nuclear power and sell them to green dreamers.
The reason green energy creates so much red ink is pretty obvious – it just needs one day’s observation of the sun.
Full strength solar energy is available around midday for maybe 8 hours each day, providing the skies are clear, and there is no dust on the panels, and you are in a tropical zone. For the other 16 hours of the day, most electricity must come from reliable energy sources like gas, hydro, coal or nuclear. This about doubles capital and operating costs for no increase in output.
With all this compelling evidence of the failures of solar electricity, why is the Australian government frittering $1.5 billion on green toys like the Moree and Chinchilla Solar farms?
Green gambling is for private speculators not for captive tax payers or electricity consumers.
Viv Forbes
153 Schneiders Road, Rosevale via
Rosewood Qld Australia
0754 640 533
Viv Forbes is Chairman of the Carbon Sense Coalition which opposes waste of resources, opposes pollution, and promotes the rational and sustainable use of carbon energy and carbon food. www.carbon-sense.com
For those who wish to read more:
EU Climate Policy in Free Fall:
http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=c920274f2a364603849bbb505&id=7aa4eeb1b3&e=e1638e04a2
Solar Power Realities:
http://carbon-sense.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/solar-realities.pdf
Germany’s Q-Cells files for bankruptcy:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17587830
German Solar on the Ropes:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,825490,00.html
German solar industry horrified as subsidies are questioned:
http://www.thegwpf.org/subject-index/economics/859-revolt-of-the-sun-kings.html
Solar Doomed: Every Solar Job in Germany Costs €250,000 to electricity consumers:
http://thegwpf.org/international-news/4711-doomed-every-solar-job-in-germany-costs-250000.html
Solyndra Scandal:
http://reason.com/blog/2012/03/29/solyndra-scandal-pronounced-dead-again
Solar Trust files for bankruptcy in California:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/04/a-narrow-escape-for-taxpayers.php
Austerity in Portugal threatens solar subsidies:
Near Bankrupt Italy faces huge solar subsidies bill:
http://www.power-eng.com/news/2012/04/03/italy-to-cut-renewable-energy-subsidies.html
Irish solar feed-in tariffs unsustainable:
http://news.uk.msn.com/politics/solar-power-subsidies-face-reform-2
Bankrupt Greece cuts Solar Subsidies:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/01/greece-solar-idUSL5E8D11XY20120201
Spain cuts Green Subsidies to help curb budget deficit:
Spain fails to control green subsidies:
Britain’s Solar Subsidies Fiasco:
Australian Government backs plans for world’s largest solar plants:
Greens boast of their role in gambling $1.5 billion of tax payer funds on solar toys:
Australian Flagship Solar Plants Stagnate:
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2012/s3465055.htm
Queensland Government ceases support for Chinchilla Solar Farm:
Delhi’s rooftop solar power policy a non-starter “not viable” and “not cost effective”:
Premier Wen Jiabao says China will put an end to blind expansion of solar and wind power:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/04/07/an-about-face-by-china-on-solar-power
http://www.elp.com/index/from-the-wires/wire_news_display/1621584677.html
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