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PrintApril 19, 2010
The Solar Power Scam
The left has no understanding of the role of market prices in matching supply with demand. To haughty elitists, central planners are wiser than the unorganized mob of buyers and sellers. So it should not surprise us that when environmentalists muck up electricity pricing schemes to promote solar power, mischief ensues.
The Bishop Hill Blog brings us news of the sort of scam that is fostered by setting an artificially high price for "green" power such as solar power, and forcing ratepayers to subsidize an inefficient producer. The following is a machine translation of a German-language Swiss news site reporting a solar power fraud in Spain:
After press reports, it was established during inspections that several solar power plants were generating current and feeding it into the net at night. To simulate a larger installation capacity, the operators connected diesel generators."This is just the tip of the iceberg," said one industry expert to the newspaper "El Mundo", which brought the scandal to light. If solar systems apparently produce current in the dark, will be noticed sooner or later. However, if electricity generators were connected during daytime, the swindle would hardly be noticed.
It is worth noting, as Bishop Hill did over a month ago, that with prices for solar power set so high, it may be worthwhile to run arc lights (using cheaper electricity) to shine on solar panels at night, and generate lucrative high-priced "solar" electricity 24 hours a day.
Hat tip: Watts Up with That and Michael Geer.
The left has no understanding of the role of market prices in matching supply with demand. To haughty elitists, central planners are wiser than the unorganized mob of buyers and sellers. So it should not surprise us that when environmentalists muck up electricity pricing schemes to promote solar power, mischief ensues.
The Bishop Hill Blog brings us news of the sort of scam that is fostered by setting an artificially high price for "green" power such as solar power, and forcing ratepayers to subsidize an inefficient producer. The following is a machine translation of a German-language Swiss news site reporting a solar power fraud in Spain:
After press reports, it was established during inspections that several solar power plants were generating current and feeding it into the net at night. To simulate a larger installation capacity, the operators connected diesel generators."This is just the tip of the iceberg," said one industry expert to the newspaper "El Mundo", which brought the scandal to light. If solar systems apparently produce current in the dark, will be noticed sooner or later. However, if electricity generators were connected during daytime, the swindle would hardly be noticed.
It is worth noting, as Bishop Hill did over a month ago, that with prices for solar power set so high, it may be worthwhile to run arc lights (using cheaper electricity) to shine on solar panels at night, and generate lucrative high-priced "solar" electricity 24 hours a day.
Hat tip: Watts Up with That and Michael Geer.
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