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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on December 14, 2020 at 4:48

Anytime an anti-solar piece pops up that mentions President Obama or Solyndra, you can bet it is an "opinion" piece with an agenda as opposed to a strictly factual analysis.  Solyndra is old news and has zero relevance in the present.  When any technology is in early stage growth, there are missteps and failures.  If those were disqualifying we would not be seeing the continued investment in renewable energy sources, private and public. 

Solar plus storage is already cost competitive, and in some cases cheaper, than combined cycle natural gas power plants in some portions of the country.  Natural gas missed its window of opportunity to become the long term predominant replacement for coal fired power plants when conservatives defeated the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan.  At that point in time renewables were not cost competitive and natural gas was the clear and obvious alternative to coal fired generation.  Partisanship killed the CPP and inadvertently created an opportunity for renewables to continue to evolve to the point where many are now scalable and cost competitive depending on location. In the next few years location will largely not matter.  The clear preference by states, regulators and utilities for the lowest carbon power source is now creating a serious challenge for natural gas.  It didn't have to happen.

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Permalink Reply by Steve P on December 14, 2020 at 12:09

well, the article presents facts that were presented in Court, so I don't think we can dismiss this episode because the buzzwords "Obama" and "Solyndra" were used.  The company building the plant clearly had numerous technical problems, and it was and is a "bust" (how's that for a technical term?)

However, I strongly disagree with the closing paragraph and conclusion of the article.  The federal government has always taken chances and invested in new technologies, which sometimes work out and sometimes don't.  When acid rain became a huge issue decades ago, the Reagan Administration funded a wide range of new technologies for removing Sulphur dioxide and monoxide from coal fired power plant stacks.  Some of those new technologies worked out, and "scrubbers" helped clean up the air and extended the life of the coal industry and allowed utilities (paid for by consumers) to extend the life of their power plants.  OF course, some of those technologies that were a part of that plan (synfuels) didn't work out, but that doesn't mean that the government was wrong in providing that support.  For all of these projects, there are private parties (investors) who are putting "skin in the game" in addition to any taxpayer funding. so these projects are just boondoggles.   

I don't know if the Tonapah  plant was poorly designed or poorly built (or both), and it's a shame that taxpayer funds turned out to not be a good investment, but, to me, that doesn't mean that the federal government doesn't stop trying to move forward new innovations

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on December 15, 2020 at 4:32

Steve, I dismiss the article for being irrelevant to the current state of renewable energy technology.  A decade old project has zero relation to solar projects today except of course to provide partisans with an opportunity to bash old boogie men.  Sad but par for the course.

As to the quote from the Powerline Blog, I offer the following.  Emphasis added is my own.

Power Line

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RIGHT BIAS

These media sources are moderately to strongly biased toward conservative causes through story selection and/or political affiliation. They may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports and omit reporting of information that may damage conservative causes. Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy. See all Right Bias sources.

• Overall, we rate Power Line strongly right biased based on story selection that always favors the right. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to the use of poor sources that have failed numerous fact checks, as well as rejecting the consensus of science when it comes to climate change.

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Detailed Report

Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: USA
World Press Freedom Rank: USA 45/180

History

Power Line is an American conservative political blog, founded in May 2002. According to their about page “Power Line is a site that features commentary on the news from a conservative perspective.” There are four contributors to the site, John H. Hinderaker, Scott W. Johnson, Paul Mirengoff, and Steven Hayward, all of which are attorneys. The publisher and founder is Joe Malchow. In 2004, Power Line was named Time magazine’s first-ever “Blog of the Year.”

Read our profile on United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

Power Line does not specifically state ownership of the blog and revenue appears to be derived from online advertising.

Analysis / Bias

In review, Power Line often vigorously criticizes Democrats and liberals for dishonesty, lack of morals, bad judgment, and disloyalty to the United States. Headlines and articles often contain strongly loaded language that favors the right such as this: THE DEMS’ APOCALYPSE PRIMARY and END OF THE MUELLER AFFAIR. Both of these stories are properly sourced. When it comes to science, Power Line takes a denialist’s view on climate change, with articles such as this: CLIMATE CHANGE ALARMISM IS FOUNDED ON DISHONESTY. This article is sourced to the No Tricks Zone, which is a human-influenced climate science denial website. On the sidebar of the website, Power Line lists their favorite sources, which consists of all right-leaning sources, and several we have rated as questionable such as the American Thinker and Michelle Malkin. In general, all stories favor the right and denigrate the left.

Failed Fact Checks

• The U.S. Climate Reference Network[…] finds there has been no warming for the past 14 years at least – Inaccurate
• In a 1996 foreclosure case, Judge Martha Kavanaugh ruled against Ra... – False

Overall, we rate Power Line strongly right biased based on story selection that always favors the right. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to the use of poor sources that have failed numerous fact checks, as well as rejecting the consensus of science when it comes to climate change. (D. Van Zandt 10/30/2016) Updated (10/12/2020)

Source: https://www.powerlineblog.com/

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Permalink Reply by Steve P on December 15, 2020 at 5:54

well, the story first quoted is from the WSJ, less that a week ago.  The article was about a particular project, partially financed by DOE, that didn't work out and cost taxpayers money.  Those are facts that are neither right nor left.  Just facts.  As I read the article, the point that the writer seemed to be making was that the federal government shouldn't be spending taxpayer dollars on unproven technologies (in this case, molten salt for storage).  That's the point in the article I disagree with - the government SHOULD be supporting untested technologies.  As I mentioned in my post, it wouldn't hurt if there was a behind the scenes review to see just what went wrong with the project - poor theory, poor design, poor construction, or poor operation.  Or all of the above.  DOE should have the expertise to lift the hood and find out.  If it was a poor theory or poor design, then shame on DOE for approving the project to start with.

But the federal government still has a role to play in supporting research and testing new technologies.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on December 15, 2020 at 6:09

It is questionable if we would have the combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracture tech without government funding.  I don't know how the Energy Administration kept up the funding for renewable energy technology but under this executive administration that was a feat.  Hopefully it will pay dividends.  I agree.

My interest in addressing the partisan slant of the post is that obstructionist politics based on misinformation and an "us against them" mindset can have unintended and detrimental consequences.  The failure to support and implement the Clean Power Program ultimately was a great disservice to the natural gas portion of the industry and the Haynesville royalty owners who have seen their revenue severely impacted. Imagine where we would be today if the CPP has served to eliminate coal fired generation on an aggressive time line with something close to 100% of that capacity being replaced by combined cycle natural gas fired generation.  It was a huge missed opportunity.  And the impact continues into the present.

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Permalink Reply by Steve P on December 15, 2020 at 6:19

Actually, every budget that this administration submitted to Congress included sharp reductions in renewable energy research.  But like every budget that every administration submits to Congress, it is only partly responsible for the final appropriations bills that Congress passes.  So, the budgets for all energy research has remained robust over the past 4 years.

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