Slashdot Mirror
India To Build World's Largest Solar Plant
ananyo writes "India has pledged to build the world's most powerful solar plant. With a nominal capacity of 4,000 megawatts, comparable to that of four full-size nuclear reactors, the 'ultra mega' project will be more than ten times larger than any other solar project built so far, and it will spread over 77 square kilometres of land — greater than the island of Manhattan. Six state-owned companies have formed a joint venture to execute the project, which they say can be completed in seven years at a projected cost of US$4.4 billion. The proposed location is near Sambhar Salt Lake in the northern state of Rajasthan."
> Is 4.4 billion cost effective? Is there subsidies that make it cost effective?
Subsidies would come from whom? The taxpayers, right? The underlying assumption there is "perhaps it's not cost effective, except that forcefully taking someone's paycheck has no cost, so any tax money used is magical free money that can turn a bad idea into a good idea".
If it's not cost effective, it's not, period. Forcefully taking the citizens paychecks to pay for it, aka subsidy, does not magically make it cost effective. It just makes it forced cost rather than a voluntary one.