Here We Go Again -- Solar Power In The Dead Of Winter In A Northern Latitude State -- March 17, 2015

Disclaimer: I often make simple arithmetic errors. There may be errors below. If this is important to you, a) go to the source; and, b) check the numbers yourself. 

Folks may remember President Obama's visit to Standing Rock Reservation last year.  Today the AP is reporting that the reservation will get $1 million in federal funding for a $2 million solar project that will save the college about 20%/year or about $74,000 / year.

The $2 million will fund a 636 KW solar energy project --

$2 million / 636 KW = $2,000 million / 636 MW = $3.14 million / MW. That's in line with current costs of solar energy:

From an August 25, 2014, post, this is 30-second sound bite for "cost of renewable megawatt":

• Solar: $3 million / MW
• Wind: $2.5 million / MW
• Natural gas: $865,000 / MW

A reader recently wrote to tell me that in ten years the cost of solar energy would reach "parity" with coal. It should be noted that coal is less expensive than natural gas (above) but in the same ball park. It's hard to sort out the "true" cost of coal energy in the US due to all the Agore fees.

But if a $2 million project (equating to $3 million /MW compared to $865K / MW -- natural gas) is going to save the college 20% ($74,000 / year), it begs the question: what in the world was the college using for energy?

The 636 KW is nameplate capacity; no solar project reaches nameplate capacity. 

North Dakota has lots and lots of natural gas and coal, but not a whole lot of sunshine in the middle of winter ... oh, never mind ... some smart folks have really thought this out...

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At Least It's Hard To Catch

Another four Americans who have come in contact with the "hard-to-catch-disease" are being flown out of Ebolaland to the US. Reuters is reporting.