A strong wind.
Posted on 07/09/2019 6:36:33 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The solar electricity industry is dependent on federal government subsidies for building new capacity. The subsidy consists of a 30% tax credit and the use of a tax scheme called tax equity finance. These subsidies are delivered during the first five years.
For wind, there is subsidy during the first five to ten years resulting from tax equity finance. There is also a production subsidy that lasts for the first ten years.
The other subsidy for wind and solar, not often characterized as a subsidy, is state renewable portfolio laws, or quotas, that require that an increasing portion of a state's electricity come from renewable sources. Those state mandates result in wind and solar electricity being sold via profitable 25-year power purchase contracts. The buyer is generally a utility with good credit. The utilities are forced to offer these terms in order to cause sufficient supply to emerge to satisfy the renewable energy quotas.
The rate of return from a wind or solar investment can be low and credit terms favorable because the investors see the 25-year contract by a creditworthy utility as a guarantee of a low risk of default. If the risk were to be perceived as higher, then a higher rate of return and a higher interest rate on loans would be demanded. That in turn would increase the price of the electricity generated.
The bankruptcy of PG&E, the largest California utility, has created some cracks in the façade. A bankruptcy judge has ruled that cancelation of up to $40 billion in long-term energy contracts is a possibility. These contracts are not essential or needed to preserve the supply of electricity because they are mostly for wind or solar electricity supply that varies with the weather and can't be counted on.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Remove the subsidies, they’ll collapse overnight.
“...Remove the subsidies, they’ll collapse overnight.....”
Absolutely. They cannot anywhere near make a profit standing on their own...no way. Without govt. subsidies, they’d die in minutes.
BTTT
These green craze government subsidies that squander huge amounts of capital through direct cash transfers and coercive regulations are only part of the story. Deutsche Bank is in big trouble. It has made huge loans to German “green” industries ( mostly power companies) and auto manufactures Tesla, Ford, VW and GM) trying to develop and sell electric vehicles. Problem is that despite the huge amount of capital committed, there have been no profits or return on investment. Those loans are dormant and are not performing. Deutsche bank is not the only institution with a green anchor around its neck. Wise investors will steer clear of auto stocks and other entities that have huge “green” investments.
BTTT
I had a chat once with an engineer who worked on wind turbines.
He says that those things require much more mechanical maintenance than most people realize. Apparently the torque generated by those huge blades is immense. Maintenance costs money, so when the subsidies run dry the owners quit maintaining them, and eventually they fail. They are then just left to rust. Disposing of rusted windmills that are about to fall down is going to become a major challenge in the future.
A strong wind.
Watch the documentary Down Wind it is a real eye opener on wind energy.
“Apparently the torque generated by those huge blades is immense.” That is a biggie. Those blades turn at what, 30 RPM maybe. So that speed must be stepped up, through a gearbox, to close to 1,000 RPM on the shaft of the generating turbine to produce usable voltage. That puts enormous pressure on the bearings, which results in the turbines catching fire and destroying themselves.
The most ironic thing is they require tons of grease to keep the bearings cool! What is grease made of? Yeah...petroleum! What an ugly scam!
Here’s a solar plus storage project that just came in under .02@kwh
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/ladwp-plans-to-break-new-low-price-records-with-massive-solar-battery-proje#gs.nwmb4m
I drove past about eight turbines at a so called wind farm in Pennsylvania the other day.
It was so windy, the US flag was flying proud yet only one turbine was spinning.
Great return on investment
Windmills do catch on fire and the bearings do have very large loads placed on them. But bearing failure is not the cause of most of the fires. The two primary sources of heat are the generators which can produce more electrical current than they are designed to handle when they are spun too fast and the braking mechanism that is designed to slow the blades down when the system that changes the angle of the blades in high winds has not been able to react quickly enough.
I should clarify further that in many designs the generator is the braking mechanism. Current is shunted to ground to create magnetic braking. But this can sometimes create enough heat to cause a spectacular failure.
Nuclear is back - with a vengeance. A lot of environmentalists that hated it are now seeing the light. Statistically it is the safest form of electricity with the least toxic waste. I kid you not.
Lots of articles and Youtube videos about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZXUR4z2P9w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM4AkSK-TA8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTKl5X72NIc
That’s STORAGE. But it does make a very good point: the problem with wind and solar is that you can’t control WHEN they make the energy, so most of it is wasted. The ability to STORE energy — even just three hours — is critical. And yes, these projects allow for energy produced at 12 — when the sun is most directly overhead — to be stored until 3, when the day is the hottest.
What will it take?
The end of Leftist idiots
...and they are the things that this country has the greatest over-abundance of...
No doubt.
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