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More solar fail from Down Under

BY thepariah on July 6, 2012
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This story was first reported in 1997 about a town in Australia that was going to be totally solar powered in 2 years.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/11/04/idUSSYD226477

Oops, didn't work out so well.

'The article expressed not one iota of skepticism about the solar plant being completed on time or within budget. Nor did it mention the rather salient fact that Cloncurry’s population is a mere 2,400 people.

So here we are 4.5 years later. How did things work out? Is Cloncurry a shining example of the clean, green, renewable future to which we should all aspire? Is the entire community humming along on “free energy” harvested from the sun?

I’m afraid not. Three years after that news story appeared, the project was abandoned. According to a follow-up news clipping “significant reflective glare issues” – and possible adverse health impacts – had been identified (backup link).

In January of this year, the project was resurrected briefly. But the new design would have cost the same $7 million and only powered a fifth of the town. Last month, the Queensland government withdrew financing, thus saving taxpayers a pile of money.'

It's totally amazing how much other people's money governments have been willing to throw into the renewable energy pit which will provide no measurable environmental benefit while decreasing the reliability of the power people need to use in their every day lives.

http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2012/06/28/solar-pie-in-the-sky/

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