Friday, July 2, 2010

Solar Powerplant In/For Pflugerville . . . Qui Bono?

I am not sure who benefits how, exactly, but some investors in India have agreed to part with their money. A 600-acre plot of land near the city (my the city) is going to be made into a power plant. Not a nuclear plant, where the M would be a G, but a 60MW solar plant. Acres and acres of glass gathering the sunlight. The City and the ISD want in on that "Green Energy" action, and the company somehow thinks they are going to make money by GIVING away three-quarters of a BILLION dollars worth of equipment. The city won't annex (read: tax) the land, but the investors will pay the city a couple of million dollars for Pflugerville being such swell cats.

Leaving aside for the moment that mass-produced solar panels still take more energy to make than they will ever produce, this sounds all well and good. One supposes they will make money by selling the electricity generated by God shining the sun on the panels. Good jobs will be available while the place is being built (5 permanent jobs when it is up and running). But I just can't help but wonder if those investors in India, the City of Pflugerville, or both, are being screwed over without realizing it (yet).

We'll see, I suppose.

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