World's Largest Solar Farm To Be Downsized --

A huge "thank you" to a reader for sending me this link. BloombergBusinessWeek is reporting:

NextEra Energy Inc., the largest generator of U.S. solar energy, said a project in southern California that was expected to be the world’s biggest will be less than half its initially planned size.

NextEra’s Blythe solar farm will be built in four phases totaling 485 megawatts of capacity, according to amended planning documents posted today on the California Energy Commission’s website. It was initially proposed as a 1,000- megawatt project.
NextEra is downsizing the project to streamline the permitting process and reduce its environmental impact, according to the filing. The capital cost may be as much as $1.13 billion.

NextEra received approval June 27 from a bankruptcy court to purchase Blythe from the former developer, the bankrupt Solar Trust of America LLC.

Not just slightly smaller; not "half" the original size; but, "less than half its initially planned size." Speaks volumes of the energy revolution in the US. 

30-second sound bite: I believe an on-shore wind farm is valued about $1.5 million for megawatt. So, a 485-MW wind farm would have cost about $740 million. [On shore wind; off-shore wind is said to be up to 3X more expensive, though I am unsure of that figure.]

If this is accurate, that the 485-MW solar farm would cost as much as $1.13 billion is significantly more expensive which fits what I know: that solar is much more expensive than wind. $1.13 billion/485 MW works out to 2.3 million for megawatt. 

Several story lines:

• environmental impact. Interesting to note that folks are willing to admit that "green energy" does have an environmental impact
• solar panels recently got very expensive due to tariffs on Chinese panels (in fact, if the panels doubled in cost, and NextEra had committed a certain amount of capital, to stay in budget, they would have had to cut the project in half
• we now see the price of a large solar project
• venture capitalists may be downsizing their interest in green energy in the US (which, of course, means, for green energy to survive in the US will require MORE government assistance

For more on the bankrupt SolarTrust, click here:

April 3, 2012: More on Solar Trust bankruptcy -- it turns out that that the federal government guaranteed $2.1 billion in loans to this company.

In keeping with the recent trend of so-called green companies going into the red, another solar energy company supported by President Obama's top administration officials declared bankruptcy today.

Solar Trust for America received $2.1 billion in conditional loan guarantees  from the Department of Energy -- "the largest amount ever offered to a solar project," according to Energy Secretary Steven Chu -- for a project near Blythe, Calif., but declared bankruptcy within a year. It is unclear how much of the guarantee, if any, was actually awarded.

April 2, 2012: Just when I thought we had seen the end of solar energy bankruptcies, here comes another: Solar (Mis)Trust of America.

And so it goes.