“Two recently approved solar power plants in California ranged from $100 to $200 per megawatt hour, compared to the $16 consumers will pay for natural gas generation. That’s six to twelve times the cost of gas–and for an intermittent supply that must be backed by natural gas to even be usable.”
As states across the nation ponder what to do next on energy policy, there is no case study more important than California. One of the world’s largest economies, with nearly 30 million inhabitants, California for decades has lived on the progressive edge of American energy policy.
The state’s renewable energy mandate of 33% by 2020 has served as a beacon for anti-fossil fuel advocates nationwide. But as I have written elsewhere: “California isn’t a beacon of progress; it’s a lighthouse, showing the path to disaster.”…