Contributed Photo/Courtesy City of Safford: This image shows a typical solar field that ties to a battery system to utilize power stored during the day at night and at other times of need. The BLM is hosting a virtual forum on a proposed 6,000-acre solar field just south of Safford.
Column By Mike Bibb
Oh boy, here we go. A huge solar farm south of Safford is the latest proposition to advertise the benefits of our area (“Public invited to a virtual forum on a proposed 6,000-acre solar farm just south of Safford,” The Gila Herald, Aug. 4, 2024)
The traditional copper, cotton, climate, and cattle – supplemented with prison complexes, hemp farms, world-class observatories, and a frequently dry river – are already distinguishing landmarks in the Gila Valley.
Now, we might add a giant 10-square-mile solar panel and battery storage complex.
Finally, EV aficionados will have some place to charge their vehicles.
Unless, of course, all the power generated by the solar farm is sent somewhere else.
Currently, there is already a wind power line being constructed from central New Mexico, crossing into Arizona in southern Greenlee County, through Graham County on its way to the Casa Grande area where it will link up with a line coming from California.
In other words, wind power gathered and converted into electricity in New Mexico is being transported, via a 500-mile electrical line, to customers in Arizona and Southern California.
This project was reported previously by AP News, May 18, 2023: “ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. government is greenlighting a proposed multibillion-dollar transmission line that would send primarily wind-generated electricity from the rural plains of New Mexico to big cities in the West.
The Interior Department announced its record of decision for the SunZia project on Thursday. It comes about a year after an environmental review was completed as part of a broader effort by the Biden administration to clear the way for major transmission projects as it looks to meet climate goals and shore up the nation’s power grid.
The SunZia transmission project in New Mexico has been more than a decade in the making. The U.S. Defense Department and others initially raised concerns about the path of the high-voltage lines, prompting the developer to submit a new application in 2021 to modify the route.
New Mexico’s renewable energy authority is among those invested in the SunZia project, which would include roughly 520 miles (836 kilometers) of transmission lines and a network of substations for getting wind and solar power to Arizona and California.”
The project is anticipated to install over 700 wind turbines, making it the largest renewable complex in the nation.
Sounds great. By the way, where is all the money coming from to pay for this colossal enterprise?
Coincidentally, the Biden Administration’s “Inflation Reduction Act” reportedly has $369 billion in clean energy tax credits available for these kinds of undertakings.
This means, the money comes from you, or it’s borrowed in one form or another. This also means it has become part of the $35 trillion debt we are now burdened with. This also means interest on this debt is now the fourth-largest expenditure in the nation’s annual budget. This means interest money cannot be applied to anything else. This also means the more money spent on servicing the debt’s interest, the less money can be used for anything else. If this trend continues, the debt’s interest payments will eventually become more than any other government-sponsored endeavor – including Defense, Social Security, and Medicare.
Then what? We may have the most technologically advanced electrical generating system in the world, but no money to operate it.
Kind of makes me question what part of the “Inflation Reduction Act” actually reduces inflation.
I wonder if the sales pitch being delivered by the folks promoting these grand schemes ever consider the consequences of their actions or are simply mesmerized by the billions of dollars they anticipate making.
That is if the whole thing doesn’t go belly-up first because a big chunk of the government’s money will mysteriously be redirected into someone else’s pockets.
Been known happen. . . More than once.
The opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author.
