Bummer: Obama’s Colorado Solar Auction Bombs

by William Teach | October 26, 2013 8:28 am

Perhaps companies are extremely reticent to dump their money into projects that have a poor rate of financial return

(Washington Times[1]) So much for the White House dream of solar selling like hotcakes. The first federal auction run by the Bureau of Land Management to sell chances to build solar power projects on public land went completely bust on Thursday.

Nobody showed to bid.

“We did not have any bidders come to the sale, and we did not received any sealed bids on the sale,” BLM spokeswoman Vanessa Lacayo said, Denver Business Journal reported.

Sometime in the future, solar will be a viable addition for energy generation, but right now it cannot survive without massive government subsidies. If you build a 50 megawatt facility, the average delivered power will be around 8 megawatts. Meanwhile, a natural gas facility would deliver around 49 megawatts with a smaller footprint.

(Somehow, plastering the clear-cut landscape with solar panels is supposed to be “sustainable”)

BLM did try and put a good spin on the complete failure, though

“The BLM had received interest in developing the sites, that’s why we moved forward,” Ms. Lacayo said, in the media outlet. “It’s hard to say why we didn’t have any bidders.”

Specifically, the BLM reported the receipt of nine applications and 27 inquiries and expressions of interest from those in the private sector about the possibility of solar project development on the public land. That’s why they went forth with the auction, the BLM said.

Isn’t that how they’re trying to spin Obamacare? Applications?

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove[2]. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach[3].