Governor Cuomo Spends 1 Billion for 3,000 MW h of Solar Electricity

Governor Cuomo Spends 1 Billion for 3,000 MW h of Solar Electricity

By Steven Ahle on April 28, 2014 in Democrats, Politics, Technology

Thanks to ultra liberal Andrew Cuomo, the taxpayers will lay out 1 billion dollars to create 3,000 megawatt hours of electricity.  At the same time, he has withheld approval for producing massive amounts of natural gas from fracking in New York State.  To give you an idea of how much that will cost the taxpayers, 3,000 MW h would cost $333,000 per MW h.  That seems a bit high when you consider that same MW h of electricity currently costs $57 dollars.  That means if you would buy 3,000 MW h of natural gas fired electricity, it would cost you $171,000, compared to 1 billion for solar.  Ideology is mighty expensive these days.
Cuomo plans on giving the money to private citizens and businesses to create 3 GW h (giga Watt hour) or 3,000 MW h using solar power.  What happens after ten years when the money runs out?  Or 20 years?  Solar panels will need replacing and there will be some maintenance, but more importantly, solar panel designs should be far more advanced by then and guess who pays the costs?  The homeowners.  Cuomo explains:

“This $1 billion investment underscores New York’s commitment to growing the clean energy economy.  By providing long-term funding certainty, the State is attracting private sector investment, creating new economic opportunities and supporting sustainable development.”

Cuomo also tries to make it about jobs.  He expects the 400 solar companies to add 5,000 jobs over the next ten years.  However, by permitting fracking, New York State would add 18,000 jobs upstate in the Marcellus Shale region and another 90,000jobs could be added in Southeastern New York in the Utica Shale Formation.
Massive more expense and more than 100,000 less jobs created .  Sounds like liberal economics to me.