The Osage Nation is in the midst of the longest-running legal battle against wind energy in American history. The tribe’s fight against Rome-based Enel is reminiscent of the themes in Martin Scorsese’s epic film, Killers Of The Flower Moon. But the tribe’s resistance against Enel’s rent-seeking is only one example of the fights against alternative energy projects that are happening all across rural America.
The Osage Nation’s victory over Enel is covered in this post.
The inevitable outcome of climate obsessed policy…
.. is environmental destruction, biosphere destruction, societal degradation, hardship, famine etc etc.
For the left… this is a major feature.
Renewables are NOT an alternative to real energy.
and now Buyden wants to install a 22 million acre solar farm – it just keeps getting more & more absurd
What they are offering is 22 million acres of BLM administered land, not all in one place. Yet, absurd is the correct label. I have to thank you for alerting me this. I just on Friday submitted comments to BLM about adjustments to the West Wide Energy Corridors (WWEC). This 22 million acre honeypot is obviously tied to WWEC, but was under my radar. BLM mission
With current administration agencies, permits and exceptions to EPA rules will be a piece o’ cake, think?
Thought provoking video.
It should serve as a warning shot to subsidy farmers that the world is waking up to this enormous scam.
Any technology that is founded on mandated theft from consumers is on shaky ground.
We have news of a 1480MWh battery being installed in Australia. Few people recognise what this means. It will enable more intermittent energy to be squeezed into the National Grid widening the avenue for electricity providers to access more income from consumers. Every MWh of electrical energy coming from grid scale “renewables” in Australia currently garners $46 from consumers. Retailers are the bag men for this sanctioned theft.
Not happy and getting unhappier-
Farmers, landholders converge on Canberra to protest ‘reckless renewables’ | Riotact (the-riotact.com)
1480MWhr sounds like a lot, but is probably about one-thousandth what is actually needed for reliability equal to thermal plants once the thermal plants are gone — And since battery stored energy costs the ratepayer probably 10+ times more than the original converted energy itself, just think how much a truly big battery would raise rates.
An all renewables system in Australia probably needs 30-50TWh of storage, depending on the degree of system overbuild. Even a relatively benign year will likely need 10-15TWh. Prof Blakers tried to claim you could get away with 500GWh of pumped hydro on the basis that the wind and sun is different in Far North Queensland. I soon discovereed that his modelled weather bore little relation to reality, and was constructed to avoid storage problems. I debunked his FNQ gambit with my Thursday Island study
World’s Largest Offshore Wind System Developer Abandons Two Major US Projects as Wind/Solar Bust Continues
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/world-s-largest-offshore-wind-system-developer-abandons-two-major
EXCERPT
Two New Jersey Offshore wind projects, mostly by European companies.
The turbines will be made in Europe, shipped by specialized European ships, elected by Europeans.
New Jersey folks will be soooo lucky to get to do some of the maintenance, with mostly European replacement parts.
MAKE EUROPE GREAT AGAIN
One project for 2400 MW to be completed in 2031/2032, FIRST YEAR cost $112.50/MWh, escalating at ?% for 20 years
The second project at 1342 MW, no completion date, FIRST YEAR cost $131.00/MWh, escalating at ?% for 20 years
The escalations are the NJ economy killers, which nitwit Murphy and co-conspirators are perpetrating
If anyone has escalation %, please let me know
https://whyy.org/articles/new-jersey-board-public-utilities-offshore-wind-farms-invenergy-energy-attentive-energy/#:~:text=New%20Jersey%20approved%20two%20massive%20offshore%20wind%20projects%20Wednesday%2C%20expected,billion%20into%20the%20state%27s%20economy.
Here are some prices with no escalation
New York State had signed contracts with EU big wind companies for four offshore wind projects
Sometime later, the companies were trying to coerce an additional $25.35 billion (per Wind Watch) from New York ratepayers and taxpayers over at least 20 years, because they had bid at lower prices than they should have.
New York State denied the request on October 12, 2023; “a deal is a deal”, said the Commissioner
Owners want a return on investment of at least 10%/y, if bank loans for risky projects are 6.5%/y, and project cost inflation and uncertainties are high
The about 3.5% is a minimum for all the years of hassles of designing, building, erecting, and paperwork of a project
The project prices, with no subsidies, would be about two times the agreed contract price, paid by Utilities to owners.
The reduction is due to US subsidies provided, per various US laws
All contractors had bid too low. When they realized there would be huge losses, they asked for higher contract prices.
It looks like the contract prices will need to be at least $150/MWh, for contractors to make money. Those contract prices would be at least 60% higher than in 2021
Oersted, Denmark, Sunrise wind, contract price $110.37/MWh, contractor needs $139.99/MWh, a 27% increase
Equinor, Norway, Empire 1 wind, contract price $118.38/MWh, contractor needs $159.64/MWh, a 35% increase
Equinor, Norway, Empire 2 wind, contract price $107.50/MWh, contractor needs $177.84/MWh, a 66% increase
Equinor, Norway, Beacon Wind, contract price $118.00/MWh, contractor needs $190.82/MWh, a 62% increase
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/liars-lies-exposed-as-wind-electricity-price-increases-by-66-wake
NOTE: Empire Wind 2, 1260 MW, near Long- Island, was cancelled.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/equinor-bp-cancel-contract-sell-offshore-wind-power-new-york-2024-01-03/
NOTE: The above prices compare with the average New England wholesale price of about 5 c/kWh, during the 2009 – 2022 period, 13 years, courtesy of:
.
Gas-fueled CCGT plants, with low-cost, low-CO2, very-low particulate/kWh
Nuclear plants, with low-cost, near-zero CO2, zero particulate/kWh
Hydro plants, with low-cost, near-zero-CO2, zero particulate/kWh
What I would like to see, and wish I had the where-with-all to produce, is a 10 to 15 minute (or longer if necessary) video that shows the end to end life cycle for wind turbines, solar panels and batteries including the mining and processing of minerals, transport, manufacture, site prep, life cycle maintenance and the ultimate decommissioning and disposal. I’ve seen videos of potions, but not the entire end to end process. The mining component alone uses a lot of very heavy FF powered machinery like the Caterpillar 994A earth mover and Caterpillar 797 dump truck along with hydraulic shovels, graders, bull dozers, etc. Mark Mills and Robert Bryce have each done a great job of describing what goes into their production and their descriptions could accompany a video but I think a video would be eye-opening to those who are not part of the religious climate zealots.
If anyone knows of such a video, I would love to see it.
Or even a static cartoon showing how many hours/tons/loads/gallons of earth/ore/dirt/concrete/diesel are required to 1) commission, 2) maintain, and 3) decommission those monsters.
Fire up all fossil fuel and nuclear generators, build new fossil fuel and nuclear generators and remove all wind and solar from the grid.