{"id":411361,"date":"2025-11-02T17:24:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T16:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=411361"},"modified":"2025-11-02T17:24:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T16:24:17","slug":"a-cautionary-solar-tale-billions-wasted-thanks-to-a-rush-to-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=411361","title":{"rendered":"A Cautionary Solar Tale: Billions Wasted Thanks to a Rush to Market"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"View<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Gary Abernathy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This article was orginally published at The Empowerment Alliance<\/a> and is re-published here with permission. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in the late 1970s there was a popular wine commercial<\/a> with the film director Orson Welles reminding us that \u201csome things can\u2019t be rushed,\u201d and concluding with what became a famous catchphrase: \u201cWe will sell no wine before its time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the biggest yet least discussed problems with the race to establish the solar industry before the subsidies run out is that the product has arguably been rushed to market before it is perfected. The construction is getting ahead of the expertise \u2013 meaning that billions of dollars could be invested in solar devices that are soon to become outdated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The haste to establish solar fields across\u00a0more than a million acres<\/a>\u00a0of U.S. farmland \u2013 along with countless more installations around the world \u2013 has seemed to come with relatively little long-term planning as to deployment, functionality with existing electric grids and eventual decommissioning and disposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modern solar devices are relatively new creations, in many cases still being studied and upgraded. And yet, giant arrays of solar panels mounted on posts \u2013 replacing acres of corn, wheat and soybean fields \u2013 are being established as though the technology is finalized and the form complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A stark example of the folly of rushing solar products to market was recently provided. The Ivanpah Solar Power Facility in the Mojave Desert, built from 2010-14 at a cost of $2.2 billion \u2013 including $1.6 billion in three federal loan guarantees from the Obama Energy Department \u2013 is now \u201cset to close in 2026 after failing to efficiently generate solar energy,\u201d according to a recent story in the New York Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe facility\u2019s 5 square miles of desert were covered with some 173,500 heliostats, adjusted via computer to catch maximum rays,\u201d the story noted. \u201cThe computer-controlled mirrors can reflect light from the sun at temperatures that can reach 1,000 degrees in part of the installment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe idea was that you could use the sun to produce a heat source,\u201d alternative energy consultant Edward Smeloff told the Post. \u201cThe mirrors reflect heat from the sun up to a receiver, which is mounted on top of the tower. That heats a fluid. It creates steam [that spins] a conventional steam turbine. It is complicated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as the technology rapidly evolved, the Ivanpah facility \u201ccouldn\u2019t compete with newer and less expensive forms of creating solar power,\u201d the Post reported. The result? The reckless hurry to \u201cgo green\u201d once again ended up with a project deep in the red.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modern solar technology is so emergent that it\u2019s a long way from being perfected. For instance, new research at the Autonomous University of Quer\u00e9taroin in Mexico is studying \u201ca new thin-film solar cell design capable of converting more than twice the standard percentage of sunlight into usable electricity,\u201d according to Metal Tech News<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The technology is designed to utilize \u201conly Earth-abundant, non-toxic materials in a breakthrough that could help reshape the solar industry\u201d and have applications \u201cboth environmentally friendly and suitable for large-scale manufacturing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHigher efficiency means a solar panel will produce more electricity for a given amount of sunlight, which can be crucial in applications with limited available space or where maximizing energy output is essential,\u201d the story noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another innovation involves \u201cbifacial\u201d solar panels, which operate by \u201ccapturing sunlight from both the front and back of the module,\u201d allowing them to \u201cutilize reflected sunlight from various surfaces, such as the ground, water, or nearby structures, resulting in increased electricity yield,\u201d according to an industry report<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Left unsaid is that such breakthroughs would mean that many existing solar installations are operating with outdated technology generating less electricity than would have been likely if patience, continued research and a more complete product had been brought to market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, technology is always evolving and improvements are constantly being made on everything from automobiles to microwave ovens to cell phones to laptop computers. But in few areas \u2013 none to the extent to which taxpayers have propped up solar\u2013 have billions of dollars in subsidies been allocated to rush such a still-evolving product into production, installation and implementation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even more concerning is the fact that there is no need for such urgency. Our traditional, affordable hydrocarbons, especially natural gas, are sufficiently abundant to last at least through the remainder of this century<\/a>. With more time and continued research, solar energy might someday be deployed more efficiently and cost-effectively, possibly requiring a fraction of the footprint currently required. Such foresight could preserve more farmland for agricultural use and minimize potential brownfield damage when solar fields reach their decommissioning stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solar industry should only launch validated, fully realized products that are economically viable without government subsidies. As Steven Milloy, senior fellow at the Energy & Environmental Legal Institute, said<\/a> in regard to the Ivanpah solar debacle, \u201cNo green project relying on taxpayer subsidies has ever made any economic or environmental sense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201crenewables\u201d sector should learn a lesson from the wine-making industry and promise to install no solar before its time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gary Abernathy is a longtime newspaper editor, reporter and columnist. He was a contributing columnist for the Washington Post from 2017-2023 and a frequent guest analyst across numerous media platforms. He is a contributing columnist for <\/em>The Empowerment Alliance<\/em><\/a>, which advocates for realistic approaches to energy consumption and environmental conservation. The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Empowerment Alliance.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in the late 1970s there was\u00a0a popular wine commercial\u00a0with the film director Orson Welles reminding us that \u201csome things can\u2019t be rushed,\u201d and concluding with what became a famous catchphrase: \u201cWe will sell no wine before its time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":411366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"Explore the cautionary tale of rushed solar projects like Ivanpah, highlighting the risks of hasty technological deployment and wasted investments.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"The Risks of Rushing Solar Development: A Cautionary Tale","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691839287,691821550,691839284,691839285,691819426,691839283,691839286],"class_list":["post-411361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-go-green","tag-ivanpah-solar-electric-generating-system","tag-orson-welles","tag-solar-fields","tag-solar-industry","tag-solar-tale","tag-u-s-farmland","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AQMhakfdbAgZmRC9PZnNolIC206HyQ7qPKZa7d_FDxHfWz6ztOASMBsRFyFtJHPzYkysmk5UJdYxU1LTOvp0l2Xa3QszMeLRrinExJv2p1WjgB-bNlZddJoYsHZ2ZS6.png?fit=1280%2C1280&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1J0R","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":300598,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=300598","url_meta":{"origin":411361,"position":0},"title":"Europe Wanted Cheap Solar Panels. 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