Teh Experts™ had one job. ONE fucking job.
Nebraska solar farm crippled by hail, underscoring power source’s fragility
A recent major hail storm in western Nebraska took an entire solar farm out of commission, forcing the local community to turn back to traditional power sources, local officials said.The so-called Community Solar Project – a 4.4 megawatt solar field comprised of 14,000 solar panels and located in Scottsbluff, Nebraska – is not currently operating and will remain offline until repairs are completed, the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) confirmed to Fox News Digital. NPPD, the state-owned public utility, and energy firm GenPro Energy Solutions developed the project in 2020.
“The solar complex was destroyed by hail,” Scottsbluff City Manager Kevin Spencer said in an interview. “They’re assessing the damage, but it certainly looks destroyed to me.”
“I don’t think we’re ready to give up on solar power,” Spencer added. “It was our understanding that these solar panels were at least hail resistant. This hail was extreme, you know, the size and probably the speed of it. So, I don’t know that we would give up on it just yet.”
Because OF COURSE the stupid prick doesn’t, and won’t. A never-say-die, damn-the facts obstinacy goes hand-in-glove with being a shitlib, don’tchaknow. Like beans and cornbread, one might say.
The problem is, of course, that “extreme” and/or “unusual” are NOT synonyms for “never.” So when one lays thousands of square feet of thin, flimsy glass panels on their backs on a flat, open field with no trees or other vegetation to shield all that expensive fragility from the vagaries of outraged nature, any intelligent soul would have to expect certain dire consequences. To wit:
Building a solar array in an area prone to hail is like building a house in the flood pool of a lake. It’s going to be damaged by weather eventually.
Ace has a favorite line about there being no knowledge gained in the second kick from a mule. As Scottsbluff prepares to rebuild its demolished solar array, it would be helpful if anyone there understood that they’ve already received the first kick from the mule.
Oh, they don’t, and they never will. It’s Agenda Über Alles with these Sooperdoopergenii™, and it’s always gonna be. If a few million flyover rubes have to suffer without power and a/c in the dead of summer to help out with the full realization of The Plan, well, hey, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Eggs and omelets, right?
2
- Entries
“Ace has a favorite line about there being no knowledge gained in the second kick from a mule”
Now that’s good, and very, very true.
As for the solar farm being damaged by hail I can’t imagine the surprise at this. Solar cells will tolerate small hail. Throw the baseball size stuff at it and it will destroy cars, and the entire country is subject to that possibility with the middle parts having an even higher hazard.
S’truth. Years ago I drove into a sudden hailstorm in Gaston County and got a dime-size chip in my windshield for my trouble, courtesy of some chick-pea-size stuff.
About 8-10 years ago I was out in Texas, small town east of San Antonio visiting an old customer when we had severe weather conditions. We had some quarter sized hail that did some damage. Later that day my wife called me to tell me that my niece, then living in San Antonio, had baseball sized hail which damaged her car so badly she was not going to be able to drive it. She was just getting ready to leave for South Carolina at the time (Army husband deployed you know where at that moment). My sister ended up flying out and rented a car which they drove home in.
And that’s not the first time they’ve had the big stuff. The Midwest is famous for it.
The sequence:
…has been the modus operandi of governments since the administration of Woodrow Wilson. It creeps into and through every agency associated with a government — and there’s a smashing good reason for it: it enlarges and enriches the agency.
Always remember that the motives and incentives that pertain to governments and their employees are not those of you and me.
“Always remember…”
Good reminder, and absolutely true.
Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people”:
The Iron Law states that in every case the second group will gain and keep control of the organization. It will write the rules, and control promotions within the organization.
https://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/iron.html