Defense Department Studies Solar Energy Potential at Desert Bases - The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) could generate 7,000 megawatts (MW) of solar energy on four military bases located in the California desert, according to a DOD study.
According to data gleaned from the internet, the cost of installed, utility-scale solar PV for the year 2010 ranged from $3 to $4 per watt peak. Science Daily quoted Lawrence Berkely National Labs as putting the costs at $2.90 to $6.20 per watt peak for utilitty scale solar with a benchmark of $3.80 to $4.40. But let's use the low end number of $3 per watt peak. That puts the cost of 7,000 MW of solar PV at $21 billion. The internet references listed the capacity factor of solar PV in typical desert climates between 19% and 25%. Let's use the more generous number. 7000MW of solar PV would then project out as putting 15,330,000MWh of electrical energy per year on the grid or 306,600,000MWh over a 20 year life time. Excluding any other costs, that amounts to a lifecycle cost of $68.49 per MWh.
Combined cycle natural gas engine installations cost roughly $1,100 per KW capacity installed including emissions controls but not including interest, permits, and such. Let's bump that to $2,000 per KW with dry cooling. That puts the installed cost at $14 billion. These facilities have a capacity factor of better than 95%. 7000MW of NGECC will put roughly 58,250,000MWh on the grid per year. These facilities have an efficiency of 43% LHV. They will burn 508 trillion BTU (HHV) of natural gas per year. The present price of natural gas is about $2.30 per million BTU but let's use $3. That amounts to $1.524 billion per year. Maintenance will be roughly $77 million per year. Over 20 years, the life cycle costs will be $39.43 per MWh. That does not count using the low level heat energy available for heating and absorption chilling for cooling.
The article being commented upon claims private developers would "tap the solar potential on these installations" and DoD would not be spending any capital. Problem is, private developers have to make a profit. Where is the money going to come from to cover the higher cost of the power, the interest on the money spent, and the developers' profits? Where is the power to come from when the sun is not directly overhead, which is the only time the PV arrays will put out full power?
There is something not right about this concept. Also, don't forget the developers will get 30% of the capital costs in the form of cash grants from DoE (which means from the taxpayers' pockets). Now let's see, if the developers claim the installed costs are on the high end, they could potentially get $13 billion in cash from DoE for a system that costs less than $21 billion to build (the builder makes a profit). then they spend less than $8 billion which makes the life cycle cost to them $26.09 per MWh, so then they can turn a nice tidy profit on power sales--at the expense of the American taxpayer. Conspiracy theory anyone? The administration is determined to keep their donors and bundlers whole at the expense of the taxpayers. Is that not fraud?
