Solar Cheaper Than Coal

Ron Beasley at Newshoggers has the details.

I was not a big fan of solar power until a heard about Nanosolar about six months ago. I reported on it here. Nanosolar has developed a process to print thin film solar cells instead of using the slow and expensive vacuum deposition process. As a result they can produce panels for solar installations that $2.00 a watt making it cheaper than $2.10 a watt plus fuel for a new coal fired plant. Check the above links for additional details.

Of course, the Bush has put a moratorium on new solar projects on BLM land. But only in the states that are best suited for solar production.

DENVER — Faced with a surge in the number of proposed solar power plants, the federal government has placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies their environmental impact, which is expected to take about two years.[...]

But the decision to freeze new solar proposals temporarily, reached late last month, has caused widespread concern in the alternative-energy industry, as fledgling solar companies must wait to see if they can realize their hopes of harnessing power from swaths of sun-baked public land, just as the demand for viable alternative energy is accelerating.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” said Holly Gordon, vice president for legislative and regulatory affairs for Ausra, a solar thermal energy company in Palo Alto, Calif. “The Bureau of Land Management land has some of the best solar resources in the world. This could completely stunt the growth of the industry.”

Holly it makes perfect sense. The coal companies have been buying congress and the Bush for years. You must buy your own.