Mexico Border Wall to Have Solar Panels Says Donald Trump

June 22, 2017 – In the too funny for words category of Trumpian announcements, yesterday’s boasting and reveal in Iowa, while addressing a political rally there, had President Trump, talking about “an idea that nobody has heard about yet.”

He went on, “we’re talking about the southern border, lots of sun, lots of heat. We’re thinking about building the wall as a solar wall, so it creates energy and pays for itself. And this way, Mexico will have to pay much less money, and that’s good, right?” 

Basking in his own solar glory he went on to say “Solar wall, panels, beautiful. I mean actually think of it, the higher it goes the more valuable it is. Pretty good imagination right? Good? My idea.”

The idea to have a wall become a source of renewable solar energy doesn’t stem from the President. Companies have been submitting solar wall proposals to Home Security ever since the President went on his Mexican border wall rant. The President has just embellished proposals already submitted by building the wall to Trumpian heights to produce even more energy. I’m surprised he didn’t say that he would force Mexico to buy the electricity generated by the wall to pay for it.

Building a wall along a border over 3,000 kilometers in length, and over a wide range of terrain, is one thing. Building that same wall to generate electricity and feed it into the grid is a whole lot more complicated and expensive.

One small matter. With the photovoltaic panels all facing south into Mexico, some angry Mexicans may start taking potshots at the wall causing considerable damage. Does that mean you will need soldiers to guard the wall as well?

What a Trump Solar Wall Might Look Like

Gleason Partners LLC, a Las Vegas architecture firm, has submitted a solar border wall proposal to U.S. Homeland Security. They are among a number of companies who have suggested such a scheme. Depending on array size from these various submissions the amount of energy harvested daily could be as low 2.6 Gigawatt-hours or a factor 10 times greater depending on wall height. At the lower end solar panel installation would add between $1.4 and 4.2 billion to wall construction costs.

Elemental Energy, an Oregon solar-panel supplier, did some quick math in calculating what a 3 meter (10 foot) wall covered in photovoltaics could generate. They came up with a daily 7.28 Gigawatt-hours of electricity at 80% efficiency number. In their configuration, the panels would be fixed at a 30-degree tilt, less solar efficient but cheaper than installing tracking panels that follow the Sun. And at over 3,200 kilometers (2,000 miles) in length, total panel requirements, Elemental estimated, would equal over 4 million. The power theses 4 million plus panels would generate could be used to light and heat 220,000 American or Mexican homes.

But Elemental’s calculations are based on a wall 3 meters in height. The President has suggested something else, a wall 12 to 15 meters (40 to 50 feet) tall. That would be 4 to 5 times the height of the Elemental configuration and would increase solar capacity multiple times. Elemental’s estimated price tag for just the panels and installation at $4.2 billion would also increase by a 4 to 5 factor.

None of these calculations include the price of the actual physical wall itself. The weight of the panels would mean the wall would need to be reinforced, and the taller the wall the greater the reinforcement.

Estimates for Trump’s wall so far have varied from $10 billion to $2 trillion. A wall only 3 meters in height would keep costs down to let’s say $20 billion. The electricity generated could conceivably pay for the construction in 20 years, not including maintenance or security protection.

Why maintenance? Because today’s solar panels last about 20 years before they need to be replaced. So that cost needs to be factored into the total project. And panel failure from natural aging doesn’t account for angry Mexicans taking potshots at the panels meaning a higher rate of replacement than normal installations.

Even funnier is this proposal coming from a President who believes global warming is a hoax and who promotes coal and other fossil fuels over renewables for power generation.

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• Now Trump wants solar panels to pay for the border wall