The Road To Hell Is Paved With Green Intentions

Watts Up With That ^ | 8/16/25 | Willis Eschenbach

[Renkluaf]

Sometimes you can’t help but marvel at how much we’re all willing to pay for the illusion of “green progress.” New Jersey decided—like half the country—that climate purity would be achieved by wind turbines, solar panels, and endless press conferences declaring victory against bad old fossil fuels. But someone forgot to run the numbers, and now the bill arrives, with a little note attached: “Due immediately. No refunds. See: your monthly utility statement.”

Let’s start with the latest funhouse mirror: PJM’s capacity auction. You’ll see the acronym “PJM” all over any story about electricity markets, grid drama, and ratepayer headaches up and down the Eastern seaboard. So what actually is PJM—besides an endless font of regulatory press releases and auction results?

[Renkluaf]

I’m sorry Alan J. You don’t take 2700 MWs of power generation out of production (since 2017), replace it with nothing and not expect demand to PJM to go through the roof. And, for the record, wind & solar are not the cheapest forms of energy because the LCOE doesn’t include the cost of grid connection or the cost of dispatchable back-up for all the times when they’re not available.

[markman46]

sounds a lot like enron

[Glad2bnuts]

What is the point of having a myriad of “Data Centers”? It surely will not be for the benefit of humans in any manner.