Roger Andrews has got a hold of high resolution grid data for New England, 2017 and lays out the plans for greening electricity supplies in these 6 tiny states. You probably already guessed – coal, nuclear and gas are on the way out to be replaced by wind and solar. Targets and optimism abound while blackouts are just around the corner.
A brief review of the New England electricity sector
‘Split wood – not atoms” … will become more than a bumper sticker … it will be necessary to stay warm.
Looking good for Hydro Quebec to increase exports to New England…..
http://business.financialpost.com/commodities/energy/without-exports-our-profits-are-in-trouble-hydro-quebec-plugs-into-u-s-markets-for-growth
Yeah tapping into the methane from the local land fill is going to eliminate coal/natural gas/nuclear.
Does it get cold and snow in New England?
who in double hockey sticks would blindly continue to shut down the friggin hydro generators like this?
oh. a zealot. aka leftard politishun.
aaaaaand who in double hockey sticks would grant them the powah to do that?
oh. the sheeple. getting what they want at the same time they get what they deserve. double win!!
about 7 or 8 yrs ago I spent a huge amount of cash retrofitting insulation in my 90 yr old abode.
my gas bill plunged as did the elec bill during heating season until wynnedfarm showed up.
what are the sheeple gonna do when they dont have the funds to upgrade their insulation because they’re BROKE paying for ‘green’ energy? is that all part of the plan?
jist askin’ . . . . . .
Did doors, windows, furnace in my 60 year old house. Emailed C. McKenna my MP asking her why the carbon tax and how much more am I expected to spend? The response was insulting.
Sounds like more fairy tales for adults. Until intermittent, non-dispatchable wind and solar can function like baseload, dispatchable power then all of these theoretical scenarios of zero emissions electricity are a mirage, an impossible dream.
Once again, if you look at the charts it is hydro and biomass (refuse) that do all of the heavy lifting in the renewables category and nuclear in the non-renewable zero emissions category. That’s because all three of those CO2 emission free sources mimic traditional baseload power gemeration. Yet, here’s the environmentalists switcheroo technique, all replacements for the future closures of coal, oil, gas and nuclear baseload power is to be filled by wind and solar. The intermitency problem dooms this to failure.
So the environmentalists have to try harder to make intermittent, non-dispatchable wind and solar function like traditional baseload power. Storage, they say. Two problems: 1) economics : it makes already expensive wind and solar even more expensive 2)building storage does not guarantee that wind and solar will produce enough power to satisfy both immediate demand and storage requirements – you’re still at the mercy of nature. For instance, you can build 100s of reservoirs in the desert but that doesn’t guarentee there’ll be enough rain to fill them.
I read something the other day that I found insightful. Greens are attempting to go from a simple, straightforward electricity generation system that’s affordable and reliable to a a complicated system that requires construction and maintenance of three inefficient and therefore expensive electricity systems.
Original system: dispatchable baseload power (coal,hydro, nuclear) + flexible peaking/balancing/emergency power (natgas) + a bit of imports. Resilient, weather resistant, reliable, affordable, profitable.
New system : original system + intermittent, non-dispatchable (wind and solar) + huge storage systems. Actually you should include others like: +demand control (smart meters/grids) and +subsidies to all (baseload, intermittent sources, storage…and consumers.). Fragile, weather dependant, weather damage vulnerable, semi-reliable, expensive, unprofitable without subsidies.
Given the necessity to have three (5?) half failing, expensive systems instead of the original well functioning one, it’s not shocking that electricity rates are skyrocketing. I fail to see how a carbon tax, regardless of how high it is, can fix this problem.
P.S. – it would be tragically ironic if the weapon environmentalists have used to close down traditional “dirty” baseload power -NIMBY and BANANA protesters – will prevent clean(er) energy like hydro and natgas power that’s an essential companion to support wind and solar. It’s like watching a massive freeway pileup in slow motion.
Last comment is my advice to New Englanders : if this is the path your moral and intellectual superiors are determined to implement then buy a portable home generator to keep power on during the inevitable blackouts in the middle of winter and a firearm to protect yourself from the looting and rioting during the blackouts. /s
I’m not sure I see a problem here. The Northeast Sewer wants to impose their “green” laws across the nation. Let them do so at home and enjoy the results! I sure would be heartbroken if 90% of the residents of New England dropped dead from hypothermia this coming winter. Or not…
If you have a death wish and live north of the Mason Dixon line, get rid of fossil fuels.
Well, it’s a Death wish of the BC ENDP as well.