Problem: Solar is  turning out to be overly expensive and in constant need of rate payer subsidies, to the tune of $1.3 billion a year.

The real stinger on this cost is that the extra solar bill gets passed on to businesses and residential rate payers – who don’t participate in the solar program, according to an analysis by Southern California Edison (SCE).

Under a California program, residential and business customers let the power companies install solar panels on their roofs.

By law, utilities are required to run this program until solar-power generation reaches certain thresholds. This solar-generated electricity is then bought by power companies at the same rate the company then resells to their customers.

To make up for the cost, utilities have to raise rates on all their customers.

Go here for 21 Q&As on solar power and its costs.

The problem: Virtually all of the critical raw materials America needs to make wind and solar power systems are only located in China.

And, China is quite willing to use its monopoly on these materials as a political weapon against countries that don’t kowtow to Beijing, says a new report by the National Center for Policy Analysis.

Already, China has used its monopoly power to deprive other countries of access to its rare earth minerals. Japan has been locked out in a dispute with China over the arrest of a Chinese fishing boat captain who collided with a Japanese coast guard vessel.

The Center warns that trying to switch away from an oil-based economy, one with many foreign suppliers, to one that relies on green energy spells trouble for America, especially if America and China class over foreign policy.

For example, to make solar panels, any country requires access to the rare element tellurium. China hosts the world’s only tellurium mine.

Already China has displaced the U.S. as a major manufacturer of solar panels. In 2003, the U.S. made 14% of the world’s solar panels while China made about 1%. By 2009, the U.S. share of the market has fallen to 4% while China grabbed a 35% share of the solar market.

How? As China ramped up production and offered cheaper products, prices for U.S. solar panels fell by nearly 40%.

To build wind turbines, General Electric needs access to the rare earth mineral neodymium. GE’s entire supply comes from China.

As America tries to develop a market for electric vehicles, China again is the crucial supplier of materials — neodymium and lanthanum — needed to make the advanced batteries that will power them.