ETROLIA, Calif — As I write this, I can be assured of something
most Californians could not: My computer won't flash off in a blackout. I'm at
my home, using power from my own solar power system. I make all of my
electricity and store it in batteries — enough to run lights, a computer, fax,
power tools, a water pump.
The latest estimate is that California's failed experiment with
deregulation will cost consumers $5 billion annually in increased rates.
Watching the sun glint off my solar panels, I was moved to find out how many
of them could be purchased for $1 billion. The answer is about one million 110
watt, 110 volt, utility-ready panels, the easiest kind for consumers to use.
(My system uses five panels). At peak power output on a California summer
afternoon — when blackouts are most likely to occur — those one million panels
would produce about 100 megawatts of electricity.
What if California issued bonds now to buy solar panels, saving consumers
from some of the six years of steep price increases they are expected to have
to absorb? Raising $30 billion would purchase 30 million 110-watt solar
panels. If the state then simply gave these panels to schools, businesses and
homeowners, they would produce 3,000 megawatts — the output of three large
coal-fired power plants.
It doesn't sound like much; California faces crisis when consumption goes
over 40,000 megawatts. On 34 days last summer, usage exceeded that by several
thousand. But with those extra 3,000 megawatts and reasonable conservation
measures, like weatherizing and turning off lights after working hours,
California would face no blackouts this summer. And the panels would produce
power for 40 years with no coal or gas to purchase, little maintenance and no
pollution.
Even if there were politicians willing to push for solar power, however, we
couldn't put this plan into effect immediately. The total output of solar
panels in the United States was only 77 megawatts in 1999, the latest year for
which figures are available. And three-fourths of the panels we now make go
overseas, mostly to Germany and Japan, which have aggressive solar power
programs.
This is a situation where so-called big government is needed. If California
announced it wanted to spend $30 billion on solar power, you can be sure
manufacturers would gear up. And over time, the price of the panels would fall
as the makers competed.
Rather than support the development of solar power, President Bush has
proposed cutting funds for research on alternative energy. He's pushing coal
and nuclear power. Implied in this policy is the notion that solar power is
something exotic that doesn't really work. But it does work. If we rely solely
on the free market to bring it to fruition, it could take decades for solar
power to reach a level where it produces significant power. We can't wait that
long.
Utilities argue that panels don't work at night. But they produce power in
precisely the hours when air conditioners are roaring and the most power is
consumed.
Even if we set aside the environmental argument for solar power, the
economic one should be enough.
Dale Maharidge, visiting professor of us100communication at Stanford,
won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction in 1990.
