>>Approximately 6.5 cents per kilowatt hour.
>
>That is much more expensive than wind generated electricity.
I suspect the cost of a solar trough farm would be considerably
less, if cheap composite plastic mirrors were used.
(Mounting is much simpler, as is tracking control.)
That might work. It shows how projecting costs for this kind of speculative project is both risky and unfair. Wind has been developed rather intensely since the 1970s, and it has benefited from a huge amount of practical experience. When development began, it cost over $1 per kWh in 1978, and many people thought it would not be competitive. Conservatives denounced the tax subsidies in California used to encourage the development of wind power. (Conservatives seldom denounce the subsidies for oil, gas or nuclear power, except at the Cato Institute.)
Until someone builds a substantial number of these things for several billion dollars, we will not know the final cost, and we will not be able to judge how well they can compete with conventional energy and wind power.
- Jed
