Sunday morning, Alberta’s wind generation dropped to 0.8 per cent, again. It’s actually around 2.5% at noon on Monday, but I don’t think I’m going to write that story. It was at similar levels on Saturday, too, so three days in a row, if you’re counting. On Thursday, the Alberta government put a six month pause on approvals for new wind and solar projects. There are still plenty in the works already, but does anyone think there’s finally a realization at the highest level these things don’t actually work?
Also, if anyone here has seen any other media reporting on this (wind power collapsing, again), I would love to see links in the comments. As far as I’ve seen, I’m the only media doing so in Western Canada.
“The emperor has no clothes” needs to be repeated until the people see the emperor has no clothes.
Some people will never see it. They refuse to see it. They have willfully blinded themselves to realities of many sorts, including the laws of physics. They will still not see it even when we’re finally freezing and starving in the dark. It will all be Harper’s fault.
I keep yapping about the stupidity of the manufacture of the so called “renewable” energy, none of it is anything close to renewable. Idiots abound. I fear Brian that when talking to the terminally stupid they will continue their idiotic death spiral and take us with them. WE, have to stop it.
Jyoti’s sister…
Jyoti’s biatch
I did some extensive research into solar systems in Manitoba. Here’s some numbers:
A 10 kw system costs around $30,000
The province will kick in $5000
The feds will kick in $5000
The feds will loan you up to $40,000 for 10 years interest free
So $20,000 over 10 years is $166 per month
Depending on installation, the panels could produce between 8600 Kwhr and 13,000 Kwhr.
Current cost for electricity is $0.01044 after tax, so at the maximum that is $1357 per year on electricity given current costs. That is $113 per month. So best case scenario you are in the hole for $53 per month for 10 years. After that you are positive $113 a month if the system works perfectly after the 10 years
It gets worse.
These calculations make the assumption that you are using 100% of the electricity you produce. If you don’t, Manitoba Hydro will only pay you 6.4 cents per kwhr. This is historically the highest they’ve offered. It’s been as low as 2.5 cents.
The province and the feds providing $5K apiece for an applicant’s system sounds nice, until you realize that it is We, The People, that are providing that money, not the politicians or bureaucrats. It’s not free, and the people who can afford such systems will be subsidized by those who cannot.
A distinction, Dan, that eludes just about everybody.
That’s a pretty important point. The interest free loan is also a subsidy.
Allan, the sh* does not work. None of it is vaiable and requires massive inputs of fossil fuels. Useless garbage as is even discussing the useless garbage.
You left out that on average solar panels degrade at about 3% capacity per year.
And the most power is generated at times when you least need it (unless you work from home) typically peaking between 11am and 1pm, so a battery system would be an added investment.
Was your calculation based on fixed or 2 axis tracking panels?
Fixed but manually adjustable. Apparently doing adjustments twice a year nets nearly all the benefit of tracking panels. Adjusting them to a higher angle in fall also helps with the snow
Do you have a link to the study that showed that?
https://empowerenergysolar.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/NAIT_Reference_Array_Report_March_31_2016_revD.pdf
Not a full comparison, but it does have some data.
This is true. Another factor not calculated is the annual electricity price increases.
Also not included is the upcoming tax on electricity.
Governments will have to replace hydrocarbon tax revenue somehow.
And the recycling cost is also not included.
“And the most power is generated at times when you least need it (unless you work from home) typically peaking between 11am and 1pm, so a battery system would be an added investment.”
A very expensive investment, yes.
I’m with VOWG here: the only “renewable” system I would even consider has to be affordable and provide stable, 24/7 power or I’m just not interested. And since such a system simply *does not exist* yet, I’m not interested.
a 10kw solar system will not heat your home in winter, nor run a stove / oven, clothes drier, hot water system, etc without full sunlight so it’s only a subsidized partial system of electrification leaving the owner dependent on grid-supplied reliable electrical energy and or fossil fuel energy.
Was listening to some drivel about this on talk radio on Friday. The host was feigning confusion on why the government would do this, and to me the answer is very simple: Two words. Grid stability.
H
I don’t think that most of them are feigning confusion. They really don’t understand grid stability and the difference between stable baseload power and unstable, intermittent wind and solar power.
They see wind and solar as “free” energy that can simply and easily be added or subtracted to the grid, without any knowledge of the need to maintain a steady supply of electricity to the grid. They are ignorant of the fact that energy sources like natural gas must flip on and off to balance out the ups and downs of wind and solar. That without natgas plants providing this balance, the grid would suffer blackouts.
The Trudeau Liberal government attempts to force a phase out of natural gas plants will remove the ability to balance out the intermittency problems created by wind and solar energy. Is the attempt to phase out natgas plants incompetence or malice?
How many f—in times does one have to point out that none of that crap can be built without fossil fuels? Way too morons out there.
LC, it’s malice. This is the perpetual struggle for control over Alberta’s natural gas and oil by the federal Liberals. Power gravitates towards wealth, and oil and gas is the principal product Canada makes which other countries want. Giving free reign to Alberta’s oil and gas means that political power gravitates towards Calgary and Lloydminster and away from the Ottawa-Montreal axis.
The federal Liberals have been pursuing this policy of trying to cripple Alberta since the early 1980s and the National Energy Program.
Yes, I too suspect it’s mostly malice.
I suspect it’s Alberta’s increased economic power that motivates the federal government to hobble Alberta’s energy industry. Central Canada’s population ensures that region’s political power. Central Canada’s hatred of Alberta’s seems to be a combination of envy and fear. Envy of Alberta’s budget surpluses that will draw population growth. Fear that Alberta’s economic power will lead to Albertans realizing they have no need for Canada and its dysfunctional, “asymmetrical” confederation.
Agreed. I suspect an immediate concern for the post-Lester Pearson Liberals is that NOT restraining Alberta would mean the axis of power in Canada becomes Ontario-Alberta rather than the Laurentian elite-controlled eastern Ontario-Quebec region. And over time, that means that prison camps like the Official Languages Act become much more difficult to sustain as a national policy. The OLA serves the purpose of divorcing most Canadians from the government that rules them, as they cannot be employed by the federal government.
It’s not just envy. Power ALWAYS follows wealth and prosperity. So in the long run, the Liberals have good reason to be scared. Unless they flood Alberta with enough newly minted Liberal voters via immigration.
A couple of flies in the Liberal ointment.
1) new immigrants are less likely to support official bilingualism since that eliminates the majority of Canadian from upper positions in Canada, including new immigrants.
2) immigrants are less woke than the Trudeau liberal-NDP government, especially in the alternative gender ideology push.
On the positive side, if the Trudeau liberal-NDP government results in Alberta and Saskatchewan leaving confederation then Canada can easily meet its carbon dioxide reduction, absolute and per capita emissions. Alberta and Saskatchewan can pursue wealth and prosperity without being constantly hobbled and harassed by a far away government that is openly hostile, divisive and vindictive. /s
Agreed with all your last LC. Official bilingualism indeed works against the interests of new immigrants as it does all English Canadians. And if in increasing numbers new immigrants move to Alberta, that will reinforce over the long term opposition to the Liberal Laurentian clique.
My view is that Alberta/Saskatchewan aren’t going anywhere. Time and economic strength are on their side. I suspect Stephen Harper was right 15 years ago when he stated, “the West wants in.” As the prairie provinces strengthen economically as a part of Canada it will be simpler, easier and cheaper to go Harper’s route and simply do a hostile takeover. Power ultimately devolves from economic strength, which oil and gas provides. Everyone wants it and needs it.
In the end, Trudeau and his socialists are merely a speed-bump. Justatwit is simply the last vain effort to order the tides to hold back.
I suspect Stephen Harper was right 15 years ago when he stated, “the West wants in.”
Nope. Harper was wrong about many things. That is merely one of them.
cgh
“The west wants in”, was a slogan of Preston Manning’s Reform Party. Harper never used it.
Two words. Basic stupidity.
FTFY. Math is hard for Progs…
Thanks for the heads up. I’m following the electricity production on the ets.aeso.ca page. Most people don’t grasp the seriousness, thinking when they turn off the lights for an hour on Earth Day they made their contribution and living without electricity isn’t that difficult. Bill Whittle suggested in a video that a three and a half days or 1% of the year without modern energy would be more educational.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAOrT0OcHh0&list=FLvxc96KYMjbMJmr74EeTE-A&index=35&t=3s
PS. Many years ago I found Alberta made it mandatory that the lowest cost electricity would be used to supply the net but I can’t find that part of the regulation anymore was is revoked in favour of wind energy or do I just don’t look in the right places?
Reminds me of the mony they wanted to pay my wife.
I can make more money working at a local stop and rob mini market.
Windmills and solar panels are like federal government workers – they frequently don’t show and provide no output, yet still get paid in full.
Heh. True that.
Much of British Columbia is beyond Hope.
” … but does anyone think there’s finally a realization at the highest level these things don’t actually work?”
Oh, they realized from the start that windmills are somewhere between useless and counterproductive as far as a reliable and economically sensible grid energy source is concerned. But the powers-that-be could care less about that. They are in the business of mongering myths and trading illusions for power and money.
I think you overestimate politicians of bureaucrats. They are virtually all innumerate.
Jamie MacMaster
Nail Head,,,, Meet Sledge Hammer
Old movie quote-
He Does Know ! !
Also, if anyone here has seen any other media reporting on this (wind power collapsing, again), I would love to see links in the comments
No man…that’s not how it works. Once you realize the media is just one facet of the “climate change” puzzle, It’s easier to wrap your head around as to why things are the way they are today. We wouldn’t be having this conversation if the media were skeptical.
Criticism of green alternatives are strictly verboten.
Guess I will continue being that one guy asking the hard questions then…
Thank you.
Yup, may as well, no one else is doing it. Poilievere, Bernier, et al won’t touch it with a ten foot pole cause they don’t have the balls.
Being branded by the media as a climate skeptic is the greatest of all sins and a political career ender.
God speed Zinchuck, not that you’re running for office but you catch my drift.
“Poilievere, Bernier, et al won’t touch it with a ten foot pole cause they don’t have the balls.”
Not quite.
https://twitter.com/MaximeBernier/status/1549092664070610950
Calgary Heritage, by-election, In an election that would absolutely no repercussions for the electorate. The voter had a chance to send a big FU to all the established parties. The PPC got 686 votes. The PPC is a dead, Max just doesn’t know it
Of course the PPC is dead. Canada is dead.
“The PPC is a dead, Max just doesn’t know it”
Given that the Green Party has far more clout than their numbers actually
warrant, Max has far less clout than he should.
Still, it’s comforting that he gives voice to many Canadians.
“Still, it’s comforting that he gives voice to many Canadians.”
I still vote for him. I don’t think enough people realize how un-conservative Poilievre really is. Why is Maxime Bernier, a native Quebecker, the only federal politician willing to take on the Quebec dairy cartel?
midislandmike
Co m m e r i c a l and P a s s a n g e r
Sailing ships. 140 years ago. What happened?
Might not be any wind today .
We’re not giving you your money or tickets back.
My wife promised to divorce me if I ever ran for politics. We’re still married 24 years later.
If wind power is so good, why did they phase out sailing ships when steam and oil engines became available? Reliability. Hard to sail when there is no wind.
How much of a threat is global warming.. The IPCC itself admits we are still within natural variation.. Then they finish it off with better safe than sorry.. Playing both sides of the fence and not as ALARMIST as the activists and media.. I will give them that..
Most people don’t listen to the IPCC.. They listen to the media, activists and the politicians who made the decision to get involved..
Dare I call this a pyramid..
All in.. Wind works but its expensive and intermittent.. Solar works but its expensive and intermittent.. Both come with environmental and social costs / tradeoffs.. Neither one can run as a backup for the other 100% of the time.. Intermittency and the scale required to go it alone when needed.. Sorry..
Ahhh the magic batteries that don’t exist to handle peak power usage in large population areas.. Enter nuclear to pick up the slack and drive it home.. But then again those are expensive and not economically practical in the poorer regions of your country. That have also had windmills and solar panels hoisted upon them.. Sorry again..
Thats carbon free.. Expensive as can be.. 3 completely different power generation solutions all up and running at the same time.. Plus the battery guys begging for table scraps.. Infrastructure hell, who will all obviously unionize ASAP to protect the inefficiency built into the scheme.. Think, three branches of the military.. How much of a threat is global warming?..
“But then again those are expensive and not economically practical in the poorer regions of your country.”
Not necessarily so. Nuclear power purchased from Point Lepreau in New Brunswick is most of the electricity supply in Prince Edward Island. Not that PEI actually matters; it has a power demand much less than the city of Mississauga, Ontario. But it’s poor and has no industry to speak of except growing potatos. But smaller scale nuclear suitable for small jurisdictions unable to accommodate a full size large power reactor is the current design and development focus of most of the world’s commercial nuclear industry.
But regarding global warming, you are entirely right. It’s no threat at all.
Last week here in Southern Ontario, late July 2023, I needed a sweater driving my tractor. It made me think of my ancestors pioneering here 175 years ago: if Global Boiling can tamed, maybe my grandchildren will enjoy haying in toques and parkas like my great-great-great grandfather.
Jenn – Brian’s story is very old. There is a quote from 2,000 years ago that sums up what many like Brian are trying to say today: “Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?”. Galations 4:16.
Great quote! Gonna use that. Expect there’s no copyright. LOL
That caught my attention, for sure! Wow. Might have to use that in the future. Thank you.
You’re welcome. I liked it too. Tell Kate.
Yes, nothing like burying 2500 tonnes of concrete as part of the base of every single windmill. Sure sounds ecologically friendly to me!
Historic Chart PDFs at bottom look interesting.
https://www.aeso.ca/grid/grid-planning/forecasting/wind-and-solar-power-forecasting/
Global nuttiness in Scotland:
https://slaynews.com/news/scotland-chopping-down-16-million-trees-make-way-green-wind-energy-farms/
dont forget folks, the thing akin to a holocaust happening to migratory birds, endangered species, top predator raptors, bats, etc.
wtf is going on with these big push top level gubbamint things? it really looks like polllllitiSHUNS focus primarily on one aspect of a technology or policy or system and push and scream and photo-op and propaganda and and and.
aka famous for ‘solving’ one problem by creating thousands more. and lets recap what happened under mao who took a disliking to bourgeois cats and pesky rice steal sparrows. . . . . again focusing exclusively on only one aspect of a situation and acting accordingly. the only diff it was just[in] one guy’s decision. now we’ve got hoards of activists each with their own fetish.
I drove from Calgary to fernie a couple of years ago , passed about a million wind mills , not one was turning
“…passed about a million wind mills…”
That’s gotta be hard on a Cat’s colon.