If you have been following the Northampton Area School District/ Metrotek proposed solar power plant story in the Morning Call, Northampton Press or Bath Home News, you probably are wondering, why are the residents of Lehigh Township so darn upset and against this great deal for their school district? You are not going to get the full story from the newspapers, I can assure you of that. The reports only go to the meetings and report what they like, they interview Metrotek, Bob Yanders and the School board constantly, getting their propaganda. They have never bothered to look into the facts, which are readily available in the PPA (Power Purchase Agreement), the application from Metrotek/ Dave Gogel to the township, the new application, etc. All the math is there, all the facts are there. Well, we have gone over these papers an here is how it works out.
The school will receive from metrotek, a discount on their energy bill that adds up to $2 million over 20 years, that's roughly $100,000 a year, given to the school in the form of a 2 cents discount per kwh. At a fairly recent school board meeting, the board stated there were approximately 40,000 school taxed properties, so.. that's the saving, per property owner in the NASD- $2.50 A YEAR! If you own a home, that a $50 saving over 20 YEARS!!! If you don't own a home- NOTHING!
Now, it gets better- What will Metrotek receive?? Already, they got a grant of $860,000 from our state, who took the money from the federal government. Where did that money come from? It came from borrowing from China and from the FED printing the money, so basically your Federal tax dollars, which you will have to pay out one day (or your kids or grandkids).
What else does Metrotek get? Well, they get SRECs (Solar Renewable Energy Credits). Those come from the government and they will get them annually, for 20 years. With the total 2.2 megawatt system, Metrotek is slated to receive over $1.3 MILLION THE FIRST YEAR ALONE! And every year after that, MORE if the rate goes up!!! So, if the rate doesn't go up and stays the same, Metrotek will make $26.4 MILLION DOLLARS over the 20 year period! Where is the press on this??
Further, METROTEK isn't GIVING the electricity away either, they are keeping the lions share and selling the electricity to the school at a discount of 2 cents a kwh off the going rate. At the last Township meeting, Eric Abeshaus (Energy Alliance) and Bob Yanders (Northampton Schools) mentioned the recent Lehigh Elementary electric bill as being $20,000. Using an average 3.5 cents a kwh rate with the electric and transmission charges combined, the school will still have an electric bill of about 35%-40% of it's current rate. So, instead of a $20,000 a month bill, they will have an $8,000 a month bill? What is Metrotek making on the electricity for the school that they sell to PP&L? That's still an average of $96,000 a year electric bill for the school, while Metrotek is making $1.3 million of our tax money plus selling the electricity to PP&L, all while using our property for free?? No one would ever sign on to a reckless plan like that, would they?
In the end, one final question the reporters have never asked- how long does it take for the solar power plant to generate enough energy to cover the energy it took to produce it? You have the massive solar cells, the forest of metal poles, the computer and flat screen TV, the wiring, the electric high tension cables, the inductors, the converter, transformer, the 6.5 acre chain link fence, the cameras, relays, etc, etc?? From what I can find out 20-50 years! All of these things took vast amounts of energy in a factory furnace to produce, so no carbon footprint savings there. ALSO- PP&L MUST INSTALL RAPID-TURN-ON, NATURAL GAS-FIRED TURBINES OF EQUIVALENT POWER GENERATION CAPACITY TO ENABLE THE SYSTEM TO RAPIDLY REACT TO THE SUN BEING COVERED BY CLOUDS OR NIGHT-TIME, SO....YES, YOU GUESSED IT, NO CARBON FOOTPRINT REDUCTION THERE. Just a giant ponzi scheme to steal money from the American tax payer and add to the growing $14 TRILLION dollar debt.
Can we get a reporter to actually do some work in the Lehigh Valley???.......
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