Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Good News for Mexico! Energy Generated by Solar Panels Will Pay for Border Wall!

President Donald J. Trump pitched an idea to Republican leaders that was gleaned from one of the bidders on construction of a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

One unidentified bidder proposed building a 40-50 foot wall covered in solar panels. That power could then be "sold" to Mexico to pay for the cost of the wall. That proposal got Trump's attention and he's been passing it along to others in his administration.

Interestingly, the website change.org has petitioned the president to use the border wall to generate electricity via solar power:
1. Lease parts of the wall to solar utilities 

2. Sell some of the energy to Mexico to finance the wall, as well as the US grid.

Given current costs of photovoltaic cells, the wall should generate hundreds of MW of power and self-finance in energy generation over a span of 20-40 years.

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