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The use of wind power in Venezuela doesn't make much sense except for spots near the coast where the wind blows and there's space to put the windmills. This is feasible at Paraguana. However, the cost per KW capacity is a lot lower for General Electric gas fired turbines, and Venezuela has the gas supply available at the site where the plants are to be built.
The use of solar power for rural electrification isn't very practical, unless it's for tiny communities.
You see, the problem in Venezuela is a massive lack of electric power (you can read about it in my Crisis Update posts). The core reasons for this shortage are:
1. The government failed to maintain the existing thermal plants, which use natural gas - some fo them have been so poorly maintained they can be considered junk. The government points fingers at previous administrations, but they have been in power for over 10 years now, so this finger pointing is regarded as juvenile and absurd by the Venezuelan public.
2. The government has allowed the deforestation of the Caroni river watershed by illegal miners and squatters. As the forst has been cut down, we have observed soil erosion, and the net result is that the forest surrounding the water reservoir fed by the Caroni river isn't able to hold water that falls in the rainy season. Since in Venezuela we have two seasons, rainy and dry, it's important to have water stored for the dry season, and the main reservoirs and their catchment areas have to be managed - and this includes forest management to make sure mother nature lends a hand by hanging on to the water which trickes out during the dry season.
3. The government has failed to build new power plants as had been scheduled. This is a twin to the neglect of maintenance. In general it can be said this government is run by incompetent people, mostly political appointees who have personal or military connections to Chavez, or have the proper Marxist background. We also see Cubans giving advice in these matters, and the Cubans come from a fairly backwards nation where the use of electricity in large scale just isn't possible because they are so poor.
4. This has been the mother of all dry seasons. While under normal circumstances, when we have had dry seasons in the past things got a little tight, there was always sufficient water stored for hydropower use, and there was sufficient spare electric capacity. I know the Chavistas who post here like to point out there's a problem in Jamaica and in Burundi, but Venezuela is a fairly rich nation where we haven't seen this type of crisis - because previous governments, as lousy and corrupt as they were, did take care of building a basic infrastructure which worked good enough.
In conclusion, your proposal just doesn't meet reality, the need here is urgent, and these plants have to be ready in a few months. What's left unsaid in the articles is that it's unlikely they'll be ready before the whole system collapses. You see, the government still faces two problems: 1) They still lack the people with the ability to get things done on time, they are famous for making mistakes, and I bet when crunch time comes they'll have the plants, but they'll have forgotten something simple like the cables to hook them up, or the transformers won't have the oil, or something stupid like that. 2) the water level at the dam which provides 70 % of the country's power has been allowed to fall to a dangerously low level. Right now it's only about 10 meters, and they keep running it down. The real conditions at the dam are now considered a secret, I think, because there's no longer real data being made available by the government, but I suspect we have until around may 24th before the system collapses - unless it rains.
The forecast for the next few days shows no significant rain where it counts - the Caroni river catchment basin. So here we are, stockpiling candles.
Another thing: the government has also failed to develop the gas supplies, so when these plants do fire up, they'll be using gas which has to be taken from somewhere else. And we're already importing gas from Colombia, even though we have huge gas reserves. I guess you can say the main characteristic about this government is the sheer incompetence they exhibit at all levels.
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