SDA: always ahead of the curve...
...cutbacks are happening throughout the American wind sector, which includes hundreds of manufacturers, from multinationals that make giant windmills to smaller local manufacturers that supply specialty steel or bolts. In recent months, companies have announced almost 1,700 layoffs.At its peak in 2008 and 2009, the industry employed about 85,000 people, according to the American Wind Energy Association, the industry’s principal trade group.
About 10,000 of those jobs have disappeared since, according to the association, as wind companies have been buffeted by weak demand for electricity, stiff competition from cheap natural gas and cheaper options from Asian competitors. Chinese manufacturers, who can often underprice goods because of generous state subsidies, have moved into the American market and have become an issue in the larger trade tensions between the two countries. In July, the United States Commerce Department imposed tariffs on steel turbine towers from China after finding that manufacturers had been selling them for less than the cost of production.
And now, on top of the business challenges, the industry is facing a big political problem in Washington: the Dec. 31 expiration of a federal tax credit that makes wind power more competitive with other sources of electricity.
Think of the money Saskatchewan residents could save if only there was some way to transmit news of this and other wind failures to our own provincial premier.
Also include the folly of carbon sequestration.
Have you tried posting this sort of economic news to his Facebook? .... An SDA surge? / And remember to Be Respectful.
http://www.facebook.com/PremierBradWall
At least solar energy tends to be supplementing the grid during the conditions which create peak electrical demand (i.e. Hot, calm summer days.) I really don't see why anyone pushes wind.
One can only hope that this signals the end of this insanity but I suspect that watermelons have far too much invested in this incredibly low energy density power source. I very much doubt whether bird blenders will produce more energy during their lifetime than it took to build them.
Use of gravitational potential and fluid flows makes sense only if one has a higher energy density fluid; ie water and hydroelectric power. Considering that building dams also allows for irrigation of previously arid areas, one has to wonder how the BC politicians could have legislated that no new dams are to be built in a province that could easily be self-sufficient with hydro power.
Solar power makes sense when one has nanotechnology which is self-reproducing and requires minimum human inputs to create a solar energy capture structure. I make use of nanotech captured solar power every winter to heat my workshop; ie I burn wood. I also produce thermoelectricity via a Peltier device which operates a stovetop fan to circulate warm air around my workshop.
What makes no sense is to burn food, especially when the energy inputs to produce ethanol are greater than the energy contained in the ethanol. The pushback against the watermelons is starting and I'm hoping that DSM VI will have multiple new psychiatric diagnoses pertaining to watermelon psychopathology.
So, is the article about the diseconomies of wind power, or is it about how an industry favoured by the Obama administration is being picked-on and that more protectionism and subsidy is the appropriate policy response? We are talking about the NY Times here, remember.
I find it a bit rich that the US would find that the Chinese are subsidising equipment sales -- the whole boondoogle would collapse if it weren't for subsidies from electricity ratepayers and governments.
I just opened my electrical bill for July August (Ontario). Over $300. Last year was about $200. Even though July was hotter this year I had installed a new Air Con this spring, and according to the chart on my bill I indeed used only 2/3 the total of last year. Costs have about doubled year over year here in Ontario. Every time I think of McGuinty I despair. Every time I hear conservative say they won't vote for Hudak I despair even more.
Was gonna talk about Ontario, but Vizzy beat me to it. What he said. Power rates are *unreal* in Ontario.
The Ontario story. (reported)
In related news, today is the third anniversary of Ontario's Green Feed in Tariff program, also known as Dulton's Bend Over and Get Financially F#cked program.
" The implications of Ontario paying above-market pricing (71¢ per kWh to IKEA and Loblaws) are significant. To put it in context, the Global Adjustment — the pot where subsidies for wind and solar are temporarily placed before billing ratepayers — for the 12 months ended Aug. 31, 2009, totalled $2.98-billion. For the 12 months ended August 31 this year, the Global Adjustment had grown to $6.2-billion, a jump of over $3.2-billion or 107% in three years.
Dulton's legacy . . . because as long as you think you are being green, you can act as stupid as you want, mimic a bag of hammers, flush your hard earned money down the Great Greenie Gaia crapper.
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2012/09/19/ontarios-power-trip-happy-fit-day/
Bend over Ontario, Dulton wants to show you how much greenie love he has for you.
The Ontario story. (reported)
In related news, today is the third anniversary of Ontario's Green Feed in Tariff program, also known as Dulton's Bend Over and Get Financially F#cked program.
" The implications of Ontario paying above-market pricing (71¢ per kWh to IKEA and Loblaws) are significant. To put it in context, the Global Adjustment — the pot where subsidies for wind and solar are temporarily placed before billing ratepayers — for the 12 months ended Aug. 31, 2009, totalled $2.98-billion. For the 12 months ended August 31 this year, the Global Adjustment had grown to $6.2-billion, a jump of over $3.2-billion or 107% in three years.
Dulton's legacy . . . because as long as you think you are being green, you can act as stupid as you want, mimic a bag of hammers, flush your hard earned money down the Great Greenie Gaia crapper.
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2012/09/19/ontarios-power-trip-happy-fit-day/
Bend over Ontario, Dulton wants to show you how much greenie love he has for you.
Here's the kicker in the NYT article:
"And now, on top of the business challenges, the industry is facing a big political problem in Washington: the Dec. 31 expiration of a federal tax credit that makes wind power more competitive with other sources of electricity."
That is, wind power has no hope of being competitive against other sources of electricity. The ONLY reason it is being pursued is because of idiotic taxpayer subsidies.
I wonder if the rate review panel would disallow that portion of the rate increase Power is seeking that is caused by this investment in wind power. There is the cost of the facilities themselves and then there is the cost of the extra generating capacity that provides power when wind isn't on.
I don't think the monopoly provider in Sk should be able to play around with this and pass the cost onto the consumer.
I asked Sask. power what the cost of power was from wind is compared to nat gas. Got a real nice email from them telling me it is none of my dam concern. Just shut up and pay your bill. Thanks Brad.
Specifically, my Global Adjustment was $99, nearly 1/3 of the $305 bill.
A few months ago I hauled hub assemblies from Barrington IL to Wixom MI for finishing.
There were 3 people working inside on the machine. That was the entire company. 3 machinists and a large CNC mill.
I've watched towers go up all around the midwest since 2003.
I see very little tower traffic moving around these days. I don't know if the planned fields are near completion.
On a breezy day I can go past and see parked mills and on calm days see others turning. WTF?
Eye pollution is what they are. An assault on the sense of sight.
I wonder if there is a building backlash to wind power costs being passed on to end consumers. If there was it could lower Mr. Wall's popularity ratings. Or if there is a growing backlash amoung those who traditionally support him, he wouldn't want to see an issue like this go unadressed.
Money spent here takes money from the consumer that could be used to fire the continued growth of the province. The big dollars spent on these facilities gets sent outside the province. Where is the benefit to Saskatchewan? If this was explained, maybe it could be supported.
This hasn't been thought through properly.
Windmills are a huge danger to grid stability and
also need 100% quick response stable backup.
The idiot politicians should have short sections
of twin canal systems built near the wind farms.
Then have the windmills taken off the grid and
hooked up to pump the water back and forth
between the empty canal and the full one.
Here in Montana, the Obama war on coal is going great:
http://www.kxlh.com/news/ppl-montana-will-close-billings-power-plant-in-2015/
I'm sure Brad Wall got the info a long time ago and I'm sure he brushed it aside, as confident in Kate and other's unwavering blind loyalty as I am.
Our political betters are in denial . In the end they supported false dictum's. To go back now makes them fools . Their egos cant handle the truth. They where buffaloed.
Politicians do have limits on the number of fronts they can attack. I would doubt that Brad Wall has the slightest belief in wind turbines,
but some of his civil servants will have their careers invested in them, and supporting them will help to keep some of the watermelons quiet.
It is the same with PMSH. At some point he will take on the CBC, but right now it is very much a known and more-or-less controlled problem, which is suscepible to intimidation.
Shut it down and a more popular leftist network might spring up, which people actually listen to.
Because Saskatchewan is prosperous it is possible to pay the price of stupid programs such as wind turbines. These things usually get axed when government budgets become tight.
As for Ontarians voting for Tim Hudak, of course it is necessary; but he is so dense that there is some danger of his continuing the Liberal policies!
As for the greenness of Ontario power generation, my wife and I noted an ad from the Ontario government, about five or six years ago,
asking for bids to build a power line to New York state. I don't know whether it was built or not,
but if built, the Americans no doubt charge a goodly rate for the power they send over it.
John Lewis@ 8:14
That transmission line is stalled now at guess where, Caledonia. It was also supposed to be a way for Ont. for excess generation to go to the states at a cost to Ont.
pkuster@8:25,
That is just too funny! THX, you've made my day!
Good opportunity for ... Bain Capital.
I'll take a thousand shares please...