Maybe the time has finally come!

A few months ago, I pointed out that Solar is a viable alternative to the bankrupt idea of building yet another smoke belching coal fired power plant in the article, Power Plants and Nevada.

It seems that the idea is catching on!

A new 280-megawatt solar plant was announced for the desert west of Phoenix. This one will boil liquid to power conventional turbine generators. The new plant will generate enough power for 70,000 homes. They’re calling it “the world’s largest solar power plant.”

But the news that amazed me - for several reasons - was that our own Representative Brad Last has a bill before the Utah House that would … Well, I’ll quote the Salt Lake Tribune:

“A bill advancing on Capitol Hill could allow Utah’s sun-kissed St. George to lead out with a city-built solar project where residents could buy shares, tap the energy and receive tax credits as if they had put the equipment on their own roofs.”

The idea is to build a solar power farm similar to the one in Las Vegas, but pay for it by allowing people to own shares in it. It’s an alternative to having everyone erect solar panels on their own roof and a lot more cost-effective.

Good for you, Representative Last! I’ll just say that I was pleasantly surprised by this kind of forward thinking. It hasn’t passed yet, but it was voted out of committee on a 9 to 1 vote. So the signs are positive. The Tribune article said that St. George already has land set aside for the project.

The other thing that amazed me was that a search of the web site of our local paper, The Spectrum, failed to turn up even one article about either one of these projects. That’s why I was forced to quote the Salt Lake Tribune for the news. Did I miss it somehow? Or did the Spectrum really, really miss it!