Essay by Eric Worrall
h/t M; While the Virginia SCC is “keenly aware of the ongoing rise in gas prices, inflation, and other economic pressures”, they have to obey the legislature.
The Spinning of Virginia’s Wind Farm
If the weather doesn’t cooperate, Dominion wants consumers to pay.
By The Editorial Board
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Dominion Energy plans to build 176 wind turbines 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. That’s enough to power about 660,000 homes. The capital cost is $9.8 billion. The state Corporation Commission assented to a related rate increase, but it noted that the downside risk is on consumers. Typically, the commission says, a utility might buy such power from an outside developer, “which limits the risks to customers.” Yet Dominion “has chosen to construct, own and operate the Project.”
What could go wrong? The commission says that “designs for various components of these turbines” have “yet to be finalized.” Because offshore wind at this scale is new to the U.S., “there is no developed supply chain,” which “could lead to construction delays and cost overruns.” What if it falls through for some reason? “Even if the Project is abandoned at the end of 2023,” the order says, “Dominion still estimates it would have prudently incurred approximately $3.7 billion of costs to be recovered from customers.”
So why approve the wind farm at all? Because the state Legislature mandated that such an offshore project “is in the public interest, and the Commission shall so find.” The commission’s order sounds nearly apologetic in saying that regulators are “keenly aware of the ongoing rise in gas prices, inflation, and other economic pressures,” but “this is a prescriptive statute.”
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Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-spinning-of-virginias-wind-farm-climate-spending-bill-democrats-turbines-clean-energy-power-cost-11660494471
Virginia doesn’t get hammered as hard by hurricanes as Florida and South Carolina, but the Virginia coastline still gets a good battering every few years, so I don’t expect the offshore turbines to last long.
None of this matters to the Virginia legislators, who left the SCC no choice other than to grant a rate rise to pay for this white elephant.
The only people who can fix this mess are Virginia voters, who have one chance this November to vote for new legislators who will stop this politically imposed power bill blowout. Of course November will not be soon enough to avoid all the electricity bill surcharges – Dominion have already said they will charge $3.7 billion if the project is cancelled.
The utility is recognizing this is a speculative investment, with cancellation possible in a year of so. Why should ratepayers, not investors, be on the hook for risk?
Because sticking hapless/friendless ratepayers helps them and not investors which in turn is good for the stock price and executive bonuses.
Because they would never go with wind if it was their own money on the line, and Democrats say we need to go with renewables.
Maybe a little off-topic, but this past weekend I drove from Salt Lake City to the Chicago suburbs, passing through Iowa. There are lots of wind turbines in Iowa, probably providing power to a few farms in rural areas, although they were turning slowly in the 5-10 mph breeze last Sunday.
We also saw five trucks hauling wind turbine blades in the other direction, which appeared to be about 80 feet long each, requiring a specially-built trailer to haul them. I wonder how much diesel fuel was required to transport them from the manufacturing site to their destination, and then to power the crane used to lift them into place to be attached to the generator about 100 feet above the ground.
For off-shore wind turbines, such as those by Dominion, they need transported by truck to a port city, then floated 27 miles out to sea aboard a large barge, then hoisted into place using a ship-board crane. This last operation is particularly delicate, as the ship on which the crane is mounted will rock with the waves 27 miles offshore, meaning that the turbine blade will be swinging around on its cable quite a bit before it can be guided into place and attached to the generator. How much fuel needs to be burned to build these wind turbines offshore, and then dredge electrical cables under the sea floor 27 miles to shore?
It’s also interesting that the turbines are located 27 miles offshore, when it would be much cheaper to build them in shallower water closer to shore. Twenty miles is about the distance where a container ship disappears from view on a clear day below the horizon due to the curvature of the earth. Perhaps Dominion didn’t want to spoil the view of beachgoers at Virginia Beach with its wind turbines?
It makes you wonder how they can be justified even within the renewable space. I visited a utility scale solar project and it had two employees on site and one of them was monitoring several other locations in NM from that location. Oh, incentives. I forgot.
Maybe its time to buy about 5000 shares of Dominion Energy. The last dividend they paid was 2.67 a share. Could null the price increases at home thru the dividend payouts and future increase in company value.
Note the fine print in these announcements – “it will deliver power to 650,000 homes at peak”. Nameplate capacity 2,600 MW, average delivery about 900 MW, sometimes just 200 MW.
If average ex generator price is $100/MWhr, annual income $788 million.
Now deduct operating costs and depreciation.
Capital cost $9.8 billion – will net income deliver a return on investment?
I’m a Virginian. I live on the Chesapeake Bay, which is saltwater. I’ve been a sailor for years and the maintenance required on my boat was incredible. Even though everything on deck was 318 Stainless Steel, we still had maintenance to perform.
I can’t imagine the maintenance that would be required for this offshore wind project. I doubt they will build the structures with stainless steel.
When I first moved to Virginia in 1980, Northern Virginia (the DC area and the surrounding cities and counties) was only 15% of the total population of Virginia. Virginia was a red state for years (decades). Then the federal government kept growing and growing. NORTHERN VIRGINIA IS NOW 38% OF OUR POPULATION! they dictate our elections. No wonder we have so much idiot legislation.
Thank goodness we gained some common sense in the last election
More insanity, it just keeps getting worse and worse.
We live in northern Virginia, and purchase our electricity from Novec. It’s a coop, and my wife and I have attended a few of their annual meetings. I have to say, it’s one of the best run businesses I’ve ever seen (and I’ve run some myself). And our electric bills are almost ridiculously low for the size house we have, in the climate of northern Virginia. Our highest ever was $380 for one month, whereas my record for the same size house in southern California – 20 years ago, no less – was $1,200. But I see “greenism” creeping into Novec’s culture, and this idiotic offshore wind farm scheme will no doubt contaminate it further. Fortunately, we have 96 acres in Tennessee as our retirement destination, and the cost of everything there is drastically lower.
They continue to ignore the truth, wind turbines and solar panels will never generate enough power to run a modern country. They cannot be built without massive inputs of fossil fuels. They require generating backup that will not fail if the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. I have been reading about the green c**p for decades and it still is B S.
I am a retired Nuclear Engineer with a large portion of my experience with the Construction after and Startup Testing of Three Mile Island one and two, Startup Testing Manager on the TMI-I restart for the NRC Required modifications. I can unequivocally predict that this project is going to take far more time and money than the Vogtle 3 and 4 project [already at 30 billion. Ten years from now that would be 60 billion with inflation and interest. ]. Just ask any Offshore Oil drilling platform construction service how long it would take to construct ~200 platforms. This project will also need to install three to five underwater -30 mile powerlines. I also predict that with ~200 Wind Turbines that even before half are constructed they will begin repairing/replacing at least one a year, further adding to the cost
We don’t always get hurricanes, but winter storms are guaranteed every year and offshore winds can reach 60-70mph.
http://www.tridentenergy.co.uk/press-releases/trident-energy-releases-white-paper-on-auxiliary-power-for-offshore-wind-farms/
Which begs the question how much energy to they take from the grid when not turning.
Maybe this answers it-
http://www.aweo.org/windconsumption.html
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“The output to wind speed curve suggested that although generation does start at typically 3m/s it’s not until wind speeds reach 5m/s that there is any meaningful net output. All that first 5 m/s of wind energy is consumed in self-maintenance. overall net outputs of around 27%-29% of rated output depending on the unit type/tower height (and therefore blade size) and location”
Saw the Second Link years ago and have been looking for it for years.
The Naive are completely unaware of how much energy is needed just to keep the nacelle in position.