By Samuel Strait – Reporter at Large – January 22, 2022 The current spectacle at the Harbor surrounding their ill conceived plan to reduce its power bill via the solar farm that currently graces the harbor's parking lot, is well on its way to becoming a clown show. First the president of the Harbor Commission, Brian Stone at the time, touted the electric savings realized by the Harbor's solar array to be $70,000 last summer. Now that the inconvenience of a Del Norte winter has emerged, the savings tumbled to $35,000 a month or two ago. Recent accounting now has the saving down to $16,470, and winter has yet to subside. Of course, Mr. Stone, now no longer president, was able to magically transform the $16,000 savings into $110,000 in the space of a few minutes of mic time. Quite a feat of legerdemain. Mr. Stone and fellow Commissioner, Wes White have been quite adept at painting a rosy picture over their creature, the Harbor's catastrophe in the making. Like a huckster at a carnival selling "slick" to the rubes, CEO, Alex Lemas of Renewable Energy Capital sold the duo of Stone and White the fairy tale version of solar generated power in amounts too magnificent to resist. An electricity cost savings dangled like a carrot on a hook was waved in front of the two saps and they swallowed the tripe without hesitation. Both men must be a product of the Del Norte Unified School Fiasco. In spite of all the short comings that were readily available for discovery, the plunge into solar power was made with little evidence thoughtful investigation. Now, after the fact, a for profit company with only the single solar array, is in financial difficulties. Owes the harbor a bit over $288,000. likely cannot afford to maintain the solar array or even keep it clean for maximum performance. Suddenly, the obvious comes crashing down on the current Commission and questions that should have been asked up front are bubbling to the surface. What if REC goes under? Who will maintain it and at what cost? Who will do the monthly cleaning? How much will that cost? Then there is always the current questions that should be asked, Is REC maintaining the system? Who is doing the maintenance? What about the monthly cleaning? Kind of a bit late for this kind of "What is happening? and Who is doing it?" Yet the shoe hasn't quite dropped yet, as that brilliant strategist, Brian Stone now wants the Harbor to purchase the solar array, substituting private sector failure for more Harbor Commission failure. If they do that, one only wonders how much that will cost the District. Projected cost to maintain the system is a paltry $112,00 per year. Oops! there goes the saving for electricity, and no mention of how much it will cost for the monthly cleaning. No one appears to be running the Harbor Commission's ship as it runs on the rocks, but it is clearly the time to shut the whole thing down and be happy that the district got a few "carports" out of the deal. Handy for the commissioners to park under in inclement weather.