Solar Power Could Foot the Bill for Trump's Mexico Wall

Trump’s much-ballyhooed border wall hasn’t received appropriations from Congress, but it does have a potential funding source – solar power.

The President floated the idea Tuesday of using solar panels to partially offset the cost of the wall, initially subsidized by taxpayers. And while PSD takes no official stance on the wall, itself, we’re intrigued by this unique photovoltaic application. Or what becomes of it, anyway ...

Back in April, several companies submitted bids (and ideas) for building the wall, and one bidder – Gleason Partners LLC of Las Vegas – proposed the idea of solar panels. According to Gleason, the panels would power lighting, sensors, and patrol stations along the wall, and sales of electricity to utilities would subsidize the 40-50 foot, 3,200 km behemoth in 20 years or less.

Keep in mind we’re talking about an estimated price tag of $22 billion, and that’s without delays and cost overruns (a virtual certainty with federal projects). If solar could even partially offset this gargantuan financial burden, it’d be a very public, very definitive validation of the tech, itself.

PSD will keep a very close eye on this development....