Schwarzenegger Solar Plan Questioned

The Sacramento Bee raises questions about spending on solar power like drunken sailors:

According to an estimate by Severin Borenstein, director of the University of California Energy Institute, energy produced by existing solar systems - photovoltaic (PV) units, generally mounted on roofs, and inverters to transform the direct current they generate to alternating current - will cost at least three times as much as ordinary power.

Calculations by legislative staffers indicate that - for the homeowner or business installing the solar systems the program would subsidize - the deal will probably be a wash over the long haul.