‘The Supply Chain Does Not Exist’: Green Energy Industry Is In For A Rude Awakening

The Daily Caller ^ | May 01, 2022 1:11 PM ET | Thomas Catenacci

[E. Pluribus Unum]

• Wind and solar companies have reported massive profit declines over the last year as clean energy prices have risen and new installations have been delayed thanks to supply chain shortfalls, market uncertainty and the Ukraine crisis.
• “One of the problems with this industry as a whole is that, since at its very foundation it is based on government subsidies and government mandates, its market value is never truly known,” said Daniel Turner, the executive director of Power the Future.
• “90% to 95% of the supply chain does not exist,” RJ Scaringe, CEO of electric vehicle maker Rivian, told reporters in April, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Renewable energy prices have skyrocketed while new wind and solar installations have plummeted over the last year, even as governments continue to forge ahead with ambitious climate plans.

While the U.S., European Union, other Western nations and international organizations have all pursued aggressive climate agendas that involve expanding renewable energy technology and infrastructure, prices have surged and profits have declined, according to industry reports and corporate earnings reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. President Joe Biden has made a series of climate pledges, including a commitment to decarbonize the grid by 2035 and achieve net-zero economy-wide emissions by 2050, while pushing a long list of anti-fossil fuel policies.

[butlerweave]

Overpopulation doesn’t exist either

[alloysteel]

The South Park underpants gnomes explain it all. Or not.

https://southpark.cc.com/video-clips/g55kxx/south-park-the-underpants-business

[Red6]

It will work fine.

As long as the government can keep the gravy train rolling.

It’s about as real as everything else that’s green, organic, holistic, natural, regenerative, sustainable, bio-degradeable, carbon neutral, zero emissions...

https://www.epa.gov/emissions-trading-resources

Total, 100% made up trash. Garbage that is making some rich and accomplishing ZERO for the environment.

Just a modern day scam, ***where the government is part of it,*** and everyone stands to gain financially while those doing their tithing to mother nature think they are buying a form of endulgence.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indulgence

We today have figured out how people can become better people, more ethical, through consumption!

[technically right]

I spent 35 years in the electric utility industry at CEO, senior management levels. Retired 6 years ago. People have NO idea what it would/will take to “electrify” the world’s economy. It’s simply not possible from an economic standpoint or a reliability standpoint.

[nascarnation]

The problem is that in the US, central planning is done by lawyers.

At least China uses scientists, mathematicians, and engineers to do theirs.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

It’s simply not possible from an economic standpoint or a reliability standpoint.

Then it's the perfect Cloward-Piven "overhwhelm the system" goal.

[Signalman]

Then it's the perfect Cloward-Piven "overhwhelm the system" goal.

Every policy put forth by the Bite-me administration is an attempt to advance Cloward-Piven.

[Tell It Right]

My solar system works fine, but that's only because I have different goals from the left. My goal isn't to save the world, bring the Modern Warm Period to an end, or anything like that. Those goals are impossible.

My goal is to give my retirement plan a hedge against inflation, particularly energy costs that the Dims keep jacking up to try to force us to repent from our cow farting ways. Based on the first year's performance, the savings of my system will pay for itself on about the 10th year, including the interest on the HELOC I took out to pay for the system, and assuming a 3% inflation rate in energy costs each year.

[clearcarbon]

"One of the problems with this industry as a whole is that, since at its very foundation it is based on government subsidies and government mandates, its market value is never truly known..,"

Will the subsidies still be there when the clean energy generators must be replaced at their expected end-of-life date?

[Organic Panic]

Well. The democrats will make us sit in the cold and dark to appreciate how great new solar panels will be once they ramp up enough production for the John Kerry Solar Panel factory. In the meantime. The democrats are not concerned about the plight of the smelly disobedient slave.

[Man from Oz]

We just made the move to buy a solar panel system (ADT Solar) this past Dec. it was finally installed (28 panels, net metering and no batteries) about 4 weeks ago but we are awaiting the final ok from Evergy ( the electric utility in our area) before the switch can be turned on.

My wife and I are both 60 and also took the 10 year loan (.99% rate). Our home is 100% electric and at present we are paying .12/kWh. There is a 25 yr warranty on the system. I doubt that I will need to worry about that but I feel like you that our electricity costs will only go up. A good friend of mine who lives in Rural KS is paying .18 cents/kWh from A smaller utility (Bluestem Cooperative).

[Lion Den Dan]

One of the major failings of renewable energy is its demand for rare and finite minerals to make it work.

[Tell It Right]

In Alabama, my official power rate is 10.66 cents per kWh. But after the riders and 4% tax, it was really 13.4 cents/kWh in the last bill. I wouldn't be surprised if everybody's power bill is like that.

We have 32 panels making a 10kW system with 30kWh battery storage installed a year ago in May 2021. All last year it produced 57.5% of all the power we consumed. We're in the process of upgrading it to 21kW / 90kWh. We, too, are 100% electric with a two-story house. I had two natural gas appliances but I converted them to high efficient electric ones. My panels have 25-year warranties guaranteed to still be operating at 70% efficiency on the last year. My batteries have a 19-year / 50% warranty.

I don't put power back to the grid. My power company charges a large monthly solar fee if I do that, and the purchase rate is low, so it's not worth it. This is because Alabama doesn't do net metering. That's why I have battery storage. Some states that were doing net metering are switching to charging the same monthly fee and low buyback rates Alabama does. I'd keep an eye out and be ready if your state does the same. You need an inverter that has a "zero output" or "no report" option (meaning you can set it to not put power onto the grid, otherwise you'll have to pay the monthly fee).

One reason we're upgrading is we're getting an EV. After the upgrade I believe 85% to 95% of all power consumed, including charging the EV, will be free from our solar system.

[Red6]

There are some rational reasons as you point out. In some cases there can be an environmental benefit.

*Austere locations, it might make sense to have a non grid tied system and this can even be environmental

*Survivalist

*Independence or a degree of freedom

*Managing risk as you are

But as you claim correctly, saving the planet isn’t one of them.

In fact, I would argue, that in MOST instances the net pollution increases with some of these environmental efforts. Most are only environmental if you do not look at the complete picture: i.e. the coal and natural gas powered electric car that gets the label “zero emissions” stamped on it.

Solar panels that last ~20 yrs, require heavy metals and are energy intense in their manufacture. And if we’re talking for real, then you need to be off grid and that means energy storage (now it gets comedic). Forget any idea about how that is environmentally sound! How long does the inverter last? How long do even the better deep cycle batteries last? Environmental?

Modern environmentalism sweeps the pollution from one corner of the room or house to another and pretends it’s cleaner because you can’t see it. It’s like living in a trash dump and them when the inlaws are coming to visit, throwing everything in a room and hiding it from view.

Irony is, ALL OF THIS would be different if we had gone nuclear years ago. At that point you push everything electric that can be electric reasonably: cars, rail, heating, appliances, garden/landscaping equipment. Use fossil fuels in those (air travel, shipping) areas where they are needed because there is no way around the advantage they offer in weight and volume energy density. If nuclear were the source of our electric energy, you can’t make the argument I made above. At that point, electric really is cleaner.

But we’re morons, so we just play shell games and pretend.

[bitt]

P

[pluvmantelo]

Wind and solar companies have reported massive profit declines over the last year as clean energy prices have risen
__________________________________
If prices have gone up for the commodity you’re selling, how does this lead to a decline in profits?

[Man from Oz]

Thank you for sharing the detailed info on your system. Not to sound stupid, but are you saying that you still had to purchase 42.5% of your electricity from your power company? Our system is 10.5 kW (estimated 1st year production = 13,487 kWh).

I looked at batteries but I simply didn’t want to go into the tank that far. Yes, we are charged a monthly “administrative” fee to maintain our account and to bill us during those times we need utility electricity.

The last Evergy person who inspected our newly installed system said that solar systems are being installed all over at a high rate?

Good luck with your system.

[Tell It Right]

I agree with most of your post, particularly the ridiculousness of the left claiming solar energy stops pollution.

I respectfully disagree, however, with your take on battery storage. We've reached the point where battery storage is borderline practical in cost and throughput. I don't put power back onto the grid and get money from the power company. I have battery storage to increase the efficiency of my solar system by holding onto the excess power so I can use it later. That's why I haven't pulled power from the grid since 8:15 AM on April 28 (about 4 straight days). That's pretty normal for spring in Alabama (good sun, mild temperatures so I don't consume extra power to keep my house cool or warm). Even with the off and on rain over the past couple of days, this time of year the sun breaks out enough to charge my solar batteries, and the rain keeps temps cool so my variable speed heat pump doesn't have to work hard.

Even with all of that working in my favor, there's no way I could be 100% off-grid and live a comfortable lifestyle with a two-story house, including running a hot tub most evenings. However, if I wasn't getting an EV I'd say my system is about as efficient as it can be and pay for itself --- any upgrade beyond this would be running against the law of diminishing returns. Only with the extra power consumption of the EV is it worth upgrading the system.

And that's with me making it work for my family and my finances. A utility company can't be that efficient because they have to try to solve many problems at once, with many peoples changing power habits (people moving in, or people moving out, or people changing their power habits with things like getting an electric tankless water heater, having kids, retiring and using more power during the day than before, etc.) I don't have to worry about accounting for all that variability because I'm making my system work for my wife and me -- a very defined set of power consumption habits, particularly now that our kids are grown and moved out. Even though I'm not an electrical engineer (though I am a software engineer) I can hit my stable target of my power consumption habits easier than the power company's electrical engineers can hit constantly moving targets of the state's power consumption habits.

IMHO, that makes decentralized solar much more efficient than solar at the utility level.

[Tell It Right]

Yes, in December, January, and February my system produced only 38.1%, 32.4%, and 42.4% of the power I consumed. It wasn't worth buying enough battery storage to run the heater all through the night in the winter. That's my weakest link. However, in March I produced 56.8% and in April it was 72.6%. Looking at last summer it was in the low 70's% through October.

If you think about my solar investment as me waging war against energy costs, losing most of the battle in the winter is a small price to pay for winning most of the battle in the rest of the year. In the rest of the year I use a lot of power cooling the house, way more than the power used in the winter heating the house. Of course, most of that cooling need is during the day (read: less need for battery storage for the nights) and longer days of sun (read: plenty of solar power). Add to that the fact that power rates in the summer are higher than during the winter. So my analysis of buying batteries wasn't an all-or-none type decision (do it only if it can make me go off-grid and buy nothing from the power company). It was about picking the battles I wanted to win. If I make it uber efficient during the warm months I win the overall war, even if I grumble during the cool months.

In Alabama we're charged a flat $15.86 per month even without solar. That's a $14.50 flat rate, plus a 75 cent natural disaster recover fee, plus a 4% sales tax. So that's $15.86 on my power bill each month I can't reduce no matter how effectively I produce my own power. If I was to put power onto the grid (which would automatically sign me up for the solar buyback program) I'd have to also pay $5.41/kW each month for the "solar fee". Since I have a 12kW inverter, that'd be $67.52 (with the 4% tax). Add that to the $15.86 everybody else pays and it's a $83.38 flat rate I'd be paying to the power company, for them to pay me a few dollars back for buying back power from me. No thank you. And that's without me upgrading the solar system like I'm in the process of doing (it would be $150.89 each month, before paying for the power I buy from them). Double no thank you.