It’s official, the project to build a field of solar panels outside Austin to create enough energy to power 5,000 homes is going to cost Austin $250,000,000, and the panels will indeed be Made in China by Suntech. I’d already done some research on the company who built the current largest solar field, and I knew they’d win the bid and that their panels come from China, so I am not at all surprised by the outing of this news. Disgusted, but not surprised. And that $250,000,000 dollar price tag doesn’t include the cost of building the thing, which Austin will never own. No, that’s just what we will be paying for the ENERGY. You read that right. We won’t be building or owning the giant field of solar panels sitting on city-owned land. The company involved will pay for all the building and upkeep. We’ll be paying $10,000,000 a year simply to buy the power to send energy to the equivalent of 5,000 homes (approximately 30 megawatts).
Austin Energy is authorizing the use of 350 acres of City-owned land at no expense to the contractor. AE is purchasing 30MW of solar generated energy from the vendor for a term of 25 years. This is a Purchased Power Agreement. The City is not investing any funds in the construction, operation or maintenance of the plant during the 25 year period. (source)
This is a point not made in any of the news stories I have heard or read about this project … that the only thing we will be getting for our vast amount of money is energy. I’m capable of doing simple math, and that payout means that for 25 years, Austin and Austinites will be paying $2,000 a year for energy to power each of these 5,000 homes. At approximately $166 a month, that’s not an exceedingly high amount for a month of electricity, but what happens at the end of those 25 years? Well, there will be a solar field not owned by Austin sitting on publicly-owned land, and the company that does own it will be able to sell the energy they had been contracted to sell exclusively to us to anyone they like for whatever price they like. It seems to me we could very well end up having our public land being used to sell power to someone other than us with no benefit to us at all, if we later fail to be the highest bidder for that energy. If things are to be built on public land, with public monies going to the company building it, and for public benefit, they should be owned by “the public” that is paying for it.
We have personally looked into solar power for our own use. Thin film, or even standard glass solar panels could be placed on actual houses and buildings in Austin for far less per building and create the same amount of energy as this field of old-style panels, and they’d be owned by Austin or Austinites rather than a company in California who will only be selling us the power from the field they will be building on our public land. I guarantee you, it would be cheaper and more energy self-sufficient to put solar collectors on public and non-public buildings throughout Austin to create the same amount of energy, and these panels or thin-film roofs would be owned and operated by Austin and Austinites.
For a typical residence, the cost of installing a one kilowatt (1,000 watts) solar photovoltaic system—the smallest considered practical—is between $6,000 and $10,000. (source)
Doing simple math again, the cost to put in enough solar panels on buildings and in suitable open spaces in Austin to create 30 megawatts of power (as the solar field will) would be $180,000,000 (on the low end, and this is standard panels — we’ve been looking at thin-film roofing materials, which may be more productive and likely less expensive). Cheaper than the solar field and with the added benefit of only supplying power to Austin forever and not just a guaranteed 25 years. Why, we could spend the whole $250,000,000 and come out of it with even more power coming into our system. Instead of buying the sun’s energy, which is a free resource, we’d be investing in the hardware to collect it. This makes so much more sense to me than paying a company to buy panels from China which they will then put on our land (which they will not be paying to lease or own), and quite possibly finding ourselves 25 years down the road not getting those 30 megawatts of power from them, because someone outbid us for the power. Do not think this could not happen. Companies go where the money is. They have no loyalties beyond the almighty dollar.
If the Austin City Council wants to be really forward-thinking, and they want Austin to truly be energy self-sufficient, it seems to be they might consider this alternative, especially since last year Texas invested in HelioVolt, the world’s leader in thin-film solar photovoltaics production … which is based right here in Austin. I know we are personally excited about HelioVolt being here, since we do love to buy locally produced goods. At the very least, use a little more of that stimulus money (which I have heard will be used for this project) and pay a little more to create jobs and put money into the US economy somewhere and not that of China, by going with somebody using panels Made in the USA. Sometimes, you have to pay more to do the right thing … or, you can pay less and do the really right thing, such as make Austin truly forward-thinking by putting solar collectors throughout our community to benefit us all for more than 25 years. It isn’t as if they aren’t already considering this.
Austin Energy (AE) requests authorization to issue a Letter of Intent in the amount of $100,000 to the Austin Travis County Mental Health and Retardation (ATCMHMR) Center for the installation of a solar photovoltaic system at the new facility located at 6222 N. Lamar, Austin, Texas, 78752. The total installed cost is estimated to be $166,495.31 and the rebate will cover approximately 60% of the cost. The rebate level for this project is $4,452 per kW. The solar equipment, which meets AE program requirements, includes a total of 117 solar modules rated at 200 watts each, and associated inverter is rated at 96% efficiency. A total of 19.4 kW in demand savings is expected. This energy improvement will save an estimated 30,346 kWh per year—enough to provide electricity to 3 average Austin homes for a year—and produce an estimated 30 Renewable Energy Credits per year. (source)
I am so livid about this, but all I can do is write letters and maybe haul my sick self down to the city council meeting tomorrow night. I already know none of this will do any good. I am not the only one complaining, and I have little doubt that tomorrow night Austin City Council will vote this through. Some company from another state will be building a solar field on our land with panels outsourced from China, and in 25 years, I guess we’ll see what happens. I know what will be happening in the intervening years. Our electric bill will go up to pay for this energy, and Lin and I will be working ever more frantically to become completely energy self-sufficient ourselves. We’ve been working on a system involving wind and solar right here on our own property which would get us completely off the grid … and using products made as locally as possible (i.e. at least somewhere in the USA). Let Austin pay us for energy on a sunny and windy day.
More information about Gemini, Suntech, and MMA –the companies involved in the building of Austin’s solar array– here.