The article says they needed another 11 the next year. Buying a couple hundred seems sensible if (as I suspect it is) most of the cost is at the project level rather than the unit level.

> And why did the government spend $8M(!!) in unused solar panels?

Spares? A lower than expected defect rate? Who knows? Paul doesn't provide useful specifics, just the politically sexy top-level numbers.

In an organization with a multi-trillion dollar annual budget, $8M in unused solar panels is a bit like you throwing away a ream of paper that got some water damage.

Presumably that would be for the Dept of VA to clarify.

> In an organization with a multi-trillion dollar annual budget, $8M in unused solar panels is a bit like you throwing away a ream of paper that got some water damage.

And yet a fraction of that amount is front page HN.

Clearly a lot of other people believe differently.

> And yet a fraction of that amount is front page HN. Clearly a lot of other people believe differently.

A lot of people believe incorrect things about stuff they don't understand, yes. HN most certainly isn't immune.

Outrage bait is hardly a new phenomenon. The unit cost looks insane because it's a side effect of the fact that a defense contractor won't get out of bed without a minimum of a couple hundred grand in the contract to cover the program.

You don't know in advance that you need 4 extra. Maybe the planes get replaced quickly and you're left with a hundred trash cans, maybe they keep using them for a century and you need a thousand more.