Sunny Forecast for Solar Power?

  • North America's largest solar plant, covering 140 acres (Photo courtesy of the Nellis Air Force Base)

President Barack Obama’s visit
to Nellis Air Force Base near
Las Vegas has more to do with
what’s on the ground than it
does the fighter jets in the air.
Lester Graham reports on the base’s
solar energy project:

Transcript

President Barack Obama’s visit
to Nellis Air Force Base near
Las Vegas has more to do with
what’s on the ground than it
does the fighter jets in the air.
Lester Graham reports on the base’s
solar energy project:

Nellis Air Force Base is home to the nation’s largest solar photovoltaic power plant. The system generates enough electricity to power the equivelent of more than 13,000 homes.

The Air Force’s partner in the solar plant is MMA Renewable Ventures. Matt Cheney is CEO.

Cheney says there are lots of advantages, starting with no need for foreign or domestic fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gases.

“It gets its energy from the sun. And, by the way, the sun is pretty predictable and effectively the energy we get from it is free.”

That’s not to say solar energy is free. The array at Nellis Air Force Base cost 100-million dollars to build.

The Air Force saves about a million dollars a year. So, it’s going to take a while to break even.

But as the demand for more solar goes up, the technology gets cheaper, in just a few years you might be able to get solar energy for about the same price as from coal-burning power plants.

For The Environment Report, I’m Lester Graham.

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