To your- “Climate change bingo, or roulette, or monopoly, the possibilities are endless” comment there is some big news in regards to monopoly as the biggest PV facility in the world was just turned on : “Largest Solar PV Plant in North America Comes On-Line, Agua Caliente is now the biggest PV plant around. And there’s more to come. Utility-scale solar will rule in 2012″ http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Largest-Solar-PV-Plant-in-North-America-Comes-On-Line/ The output of this facility is being purchased by PG&E for it’s CA customers via a 20 year Power Agreement with the current owners of the facility- NRG.
The federal governments economic risk in regards to ” a $967 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy for the project is pretty low as the PPA transfers risk (actually it’s fixed costs at this stage of the monopoly game) to the rate payers at PG&E.