Free Republic

President Joe Biden should prioritize American energy independence and end reliance on adversaries such as Russia, Venezuela, and Iran, 27 state financial officers say in a letter Tuesday to the president. In their letter, they urge Biden to consider the consequences of foreign energy dependence for U.S. businesses and consumers. “Policies implemented during the last year thwart the vitality of American energy production,” the financial officers’ letter to Biden reads. “The rising cost of fuel, coupled with precipitous inflation has, and will, continue to result in dire consequences for working-class families.” The 27 state-level officials are part of the State...

WASHINGTON - In a decision that could dramatically undercut President Joe Biden’s ambitious climate goals, the Commerce Department said Monday it is investigating whether imports of solar panels from Southeast Asia are circumventing anti-dumping rules that limit imports from China. Clean energy leaders said the investigation - which could result in retroactive tariffs of up to 240% - would severely hinder the U.S. solar industry, leading to thousands of layoffs and imperiling up to 80% of planned solar projects in the U.S. Such an outcome would jeopardize one of Biden's top clean energy goals and run counter to his administration's...

Customers to pay 3x as much during 'peak' hours.. DENVER — Xcel Energy will soon start charging higher electricity rates during peak hours, and that is causing a lot of confusion and anxiety among customers like Tamara Casillas. “I’m a grandmother and I’m on a pension,” Casillas said. She points out that families are paying more for everything right now, from groceries to gas. “With inflation and everything that’s going on in the world, things are going to go up a little, and it’s getting harder and rougher for everybody,” she said. So, Xcel’s announcement that it will be raising...

Seventeen years ago, Spain's socialist government decided to inject subsidies into renewable energy. As a result, thousands of Spanish families massively invested in photovoltaic energy. But, as you'll see irjour report, the dream rapidly turned into a nightmare.

On Day One of his presidency, Joe Biden shut down the Keystone XL Pipeline and banned drilling on federal land as part of his plan to save the planet from so-called climate change. But one of the “alternative energy” sources he is promoting is on the skids, and solar power advocates say they need a government bailout. The Financial Times reported: Solar capacity installations in the fourth quarter last year were about 2.5 gigawatts, the lowest quarter of the year and down 43 per cent year-on-year, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Now, the slowdown is stretching into...

An international team of scientists, including Dr. Willie Soon, has produced a solar model which does a skilful job of reproducing past climate shifts such as the Little Ice Age and Medieval Warm Period...The main reasons for the Little Ice Age (LIA) are the long and deep minimum of summer insolation and insolation seasonality (IS) in the Northern Hemisphere...The noted characteristics of insolation, reflecting not only variations in the arrival of solar radiation, but also variations in the mechanisms of heat transfer, are not taken into account in the general astronomical theory of climate. Taking these indicators into account will...

Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm suggested that solar panels and wind farms could be the key to ensuring world peace in the future. Solar, wind and other renewable sources would be key for the U.S. and its European allies to have energy security, Granholm said during her remarks at the U.S.-EU Energy Ministerial hosted by the State Department on Monday. The energy secretary added that fossil fuel dependence puts the West at greater risk of volatile energy prices. “High energy prices have been putting strains on households on both sides of the Atlantic,” Granholm remarked. “In Europe, you have...

Europe’s energy crisis has led to a shortage of natural gas supplies, and France could pay the price. French natural gas pipeline operator GRTgaz warned that gas stockpiles are much lower at this point in the year than they have been during years past. France's energy problems have been exacerbated by the lower-than-usual capacity at the country's nuclear power plants. ... The Brits aren't the only European nation to find itself on the verge of a full-blown energy crisis... French natural gas pipeline operator GRTgaz warned that French gas stockpiles are much lower at this point in the year than...

In California, the leftists who see “racism” everywhere are now claiming that their own rooftop solar program creates “racist” “inequities.” Their contradictory “solution” is to create a new tax on the very same solar power that they are subsidizing.By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)January 30, 2022For more than 20 years, California has been giving homeowners financial incentives to install rooftop solar panels on their homes. The goal here is to encourage the use of solar power.Because whatever you subsidize you get more of, the program has more than achieved its goal of one million solar rooftop installations. That...

Biden administration officials say U.S. and European officials are coordinating with natural gas suppliers around the globe to cushion the impact if Russia were to cut off energy supplies over the Ukraine conflict WASHINGTON -- U.S. and European officials are coordinating with natural gas suppliers around the globe to cushion the impact if Russia were to cut off energy supplies in the conflict over Ukraine, Biden administration officials say. The U.S. and European allies have promised punishing economic and political sanctions if Russia moves its military into Ukraine, but worry about repercussions for Europeans from any such sanctions, including Russia...

Here are some of my thoughts on the billing of electricity with respect to homeowners with solar panel installations. The topic is complex. My suggestions are intended to be possible improvements and not perfections. There are a number of components that could go into the computation of a solar panel homeowner's bill: the capital cost of the related non-solar backup capacity, the cost of the utility lines dedicated to the customer, the cost to collect payment, the fuel cost of the electricity and credit for the electricity supplied to the grid by the customer. A CUSTOMER'S USAGE-BASED SHARE of the...

Most comments at this site tend to have a perspective generally consistent with my own. But sometimes a post will attract comments from people with a very different point of view. That occurred on a post earlier this week titled “Two More Contributions On The impossibility Of Electrifying Everything Using Only Wind, Solar, And Batteries.” That post and the one immediately preceding it (“Calculating The Full Costs Of Electrifying Everything Using Only Wind, Solar, And Batteries”) had both focused on a particular issue inherent in the project of replacing dispatchable carbon-based sources of energy (coal, oil, natural gas) with intermittent...

Ballot initiatives to protect the current system, which state regulators say steals from the poor to benefit the rich, are filed for 2022 election. Regulators want to destroy rooftop solar to protect the obscene profits of utility companies, one side charges. The other side claims rooftop solar owners are circling the wagons to protect their own profits — the over-market amount they’re paid for exporting power to their neighbors — and to avoid paying their fair share to maintain the electric grid. Under the now-tabled proposal, rooftop solar owners like Raj Pandey of Irvine would have seen the credit they...

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Several landowners have gone to court to challenge the county board’s approval of a massive solar farm that is planned just east of Lincoln. The county approved the company’s plan to put solar panels on agricultural land that previously could only be used for agricultural purposes or as green spaces. In some places, the solar panels could be placed 450 feet from homes of landowners who didn’t sign a lease to be part of the project. Attorney Dennis Tegtmeier said the new zoning rules would allow solar panels as close as 50 feet from the edge...

Last year saw Australians install rooftop solar like never before, with 40% more installed in 2021 than in 2020. Solar system installations now make up 7% of the energy going into the national electricity grid. Alongside the greater uptake of utility-scale solar (such as solar farms), this means cheaper and cleaner electricity is fast becoming a reality, putting the country on track to meet international climate targets. But such a dramatic surge in solar output also poses challenges for Australia's power system for two main reasons. It results in increased periods of large oversupply when weather conditions favor solar energy....

How close would a solar and wind-dependent power grid have come to giving us the electricity we needed during the three-week freeze in Alberta where the average temperature was -22 C from Dec. 15 to Jan. 9?... Alberta needs a supply of about 10,500 MW (megawatts) on average, said Mackay. If they are running at maximum capacity, solar can provide 736 MW and wind 2,269 MW.... If we had been reliant on far more solar and wind, how would we have done? “You’d have to start with rolling blackouts or brownouts,” Mackay said. “If we lost the bulk of our...

You sometimes see newspaper headlines to the effect that, say, a “50 megawatt solar power plant” is being constructed. But you shouldn’t count on getting anything remotely approaching 50 megawatts of power from such an installation. Energy expert Isaac Orr explains: Data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) show that production from solar panels plummets in the winter. The graph below shows the percentage of electricity generated by solar panels in Minnesota compared to their potential output. This percentage is called a capacity factor in electricity-industry lingo. ... Isaac’s analysis applies specifically to Minnesota, but bear in mind that...

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) plans to vote on the Proposed Decision for Net Energy Metering, NEM 3, on January 27th, 2022. WHY you should care: Homeowners with NEM 1 or NEM 2 were told that their terms were grandfathered for 20 years, this will be reduced to 15 years if NEM 3 passes as written on January 27, 2022… What does this mean to NEM 1 or NEM 2 clients – after 15 years, you will be forced over to NEM 3 and will NO LONGER GET TOU RETAIL CREDIT FOR THE ENERGY YOU PUT BACK ON THE...

Politically connected First Solar also secured $3 billion in loan guarantees from Obama administration A solar energy company owned by a Biden megadonor received a $500 million government loan to build a manufacturing facility in India, the Biden administration announced this week, raising questions about whether the company's political clout played any role in the financing decision. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation granted the loan to First Solar, which is owned by billionaire Walmart heir Lukas Walton, to build a solar module plant in India. Walton contributed over $300,000 to President Joe Biden's campaign last year, and over $100,000...

The Washington Free Beacon reported: A solar energy company owned by a Biden megadonor received a $500 million government loan to build a manufacturing facility in India, the Biden administration announced this week, raising questions about whether the company’s political clout played any role in the financing decision. The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation granted the loan to First Solar, which is owned by billionaire Walmart heir Lukas Walton, to build a solar module plant in India. Walton contributed over $300,000 to President Joe Biden’s campaign last year, and over $100,000 to the Democratic National Committee, according to campaign finance...