What do Blackouts and BigWind have in common?

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More than you think! As BigWind increases its presence, on our electrical grid, so do the blackouts. Why? Read below to learn how this nightmare is becoming more of a reality…

It is too often assumed that making maximum use of renewables is the answer to addressing environmental goals.  So easy is it to buy into this assumption that intermittent wind power is pulling ahead of coal in Texas.

Energy analysts forecast that wind turbines in Texas will generate about 87,000 megawatt-hours of electricity next year, eclipsing the anticipated output from coal.  Coal power is falling in Texas and nationally, while wind power is on a rapid upward climb.  Wind power already supplies 20% of the Lone Star state’s power and it’s expected to reach 24% in 2020, second only to natural gas, while coal plants continue to close.

If you think those trends don’t come with a downside, think again.  The economy in Texas and nationally demands full-time electricity.  Wind only generates part-time electricity.  In West Texas this summer, on some hot and humid days it was so still there wasn’t enough of a breeze to stir a leaf.  Hundreds of wind turbines stopped spinning.  When the Texas grid needed wind power the most, it was nowhere to be found. The Texas electric power grid came perilously close to collapsing.  

Electricity prices spiked from their normal range of $20 to $30 per megawatt-hour to $9,000 not once but twice. The state teetered on the edge of rolling blackouts and no air conditioning for millions of families during triple digit temperatures. Operators of the Texas grid issued alert after alert asking consumers to turn off devices and conserve power.

Texas is unlikely to be the only state that comes perilously close to electricity shortages.  Federal and state subsidies have made wind and solar power so cheap that they are displacing essential baseload sources of power that are capable of running when needed…

All of this is ominous not only for Texas but also other parts of the country.  The rapid shift toward wind power is an opportunity for a reality check in the debate over the deployment of renewables, which benefit from federal tax credits and generous state mandates.

According to the Joint Congressional Committee on Taxation, wind and solar power will have received $36.5 billion in federal tax credits between 2016 and 2020.  It’s an imposing number but it doesn’t even touch the subsidies provided for solar and wind at the state level.State renewable portfolio standards that mandate ever-increasing amounts of wind and solar power have been just as disruptive to electricity markets and perhaps even more costly.

It brings into sharp focus the most urgent challenge: How will the United States scale back the use of fossil fuels, yet maintain an adequate energy supply?  …

Instead of indifference, we need to regain our balance and encourage investment in advanced energy technology of all kinds – coal, natural gas, nuclear power, and renewables, along with improvements in energy efficiency – if we hope to avoid future havoc in electricity markets and ensure the availability of reliable and affordable power.

Reliability Gone with the Wind

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Say NO to Shayne Thomas (BigWind friend) for the Ohio house

PLEASE ask Ohio legislators to NOT ENDORSE SHAYNE THOMAS for his bid to run for the 88th district.

Please both call and email the Speaker of the Ohio House, Larry Householder. Shayne Thomas is seeking key endorsements from legislators at the state level in a bid to fill the seat of Bill Reineke 88th District Representative. If Shayne Thomas secures those endorsements, he will be a viable candidate in the primary election this spring.

When you email Rep. Householder also include these legislators on that email: rep72@ohiohouse.gov   Phone (614) 466-2500
– Representative Bill Reineke (Seneca and Sandusky County) rep88@ohiohouse.gov

– Representative Dick Stein (Huron County) Rep57@ohiohouse.gov

– Representative Bill Seitz (House Majority Leader) rep30@ohiohouse.gov

– Senator Dave Burke Burke@ohiosenate.gov

– Representative John Cross rep 83@ohiohouse.gov

– Representative Nino Vitale rep85@ohiohouse.gov

Below are just a few of the many concerns that have been expressed already by those in the community concerning Shayne’s conduct as Seneca County Commissioner:

  1. Many area residents started contacting Shayne Thomas in December 2017 to express concern about the proposed wind projects following public disclosure by the wind development companies. How many did he tell “there wasn’t anything we could do to stop them” or “although he hates to see hog barns or big silos go up the landowners have every right to do with their land what they choose”.

2.  After December of 2017 many came to learn that he had been promoting the reduction of setbacks at the state level. This would place turbines closer to non-participating property lines than what current law allows. In June of 2017 when the majority of Seneca county was unaware of utility scale wind energy development in Seneca county, Shayne Thomas, Susan Monroe (from Apex and Van Wert county)and local businessman Gary Baldosser went before the Senate Finance Committee to promote the reduction to setbacks in Ohio.

Their pictures are below and the video testimony can be viewed here: https://www.ohiochannel.org/video/ohio-senate-finance-committee-6-7-2017;jsessionid=65d2ab0bd287a7ceb1a4d5c798ba

3. Shayne Thomas used his influence to promote these projects by seeking legal counsel to support them at the OPSB. He recommended the Seneca County Commissioners hire the same lawyer that represents Apex Energy. Apex Energy is also the same company associated with the wind lease in which the family of Mr. Thomas will benefit financially from in the proposed Honey Creek LLC. 

4. Although Seneca County Commissioner Mike Kerschner recommended the commissioners rescind the AEZ. Shayne Thomas was very vocal in protecting the AEZ (Alternative Energy Zone). After thousands of signatures were collected county wide to rescind the AEZ, Shayne Thomas made a statement at the November 13th 2018 commissioner’s meeting, recommending they wait until 9/19/19 at 9:00 AM to rescind the AEZ. A bizarre date which ultimately was changed and the AEZ was ultimately sunset in June of 2019.

5. In another commissioners meeting on August 21st, 2018, Shayne Thomas chose to walk out on a retired Seneca East School teacher and veteran, Paul Smith during a commissioners meeting. Shayne abruptly adjourned the meeting when Mr. Jones, a beloved teacher and writer, went to the podium to speak.

The video can be viewed here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm6JQ37BRJg&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR1bijWOtyaNHHzJuUFOXBuqiPgBEOw6wLkOxP2xkSMhTKQKKdJvwCLEXuA

Now that there are two Seneca County Commissioners working hard to protect Seneca County from utility scale wind energy development, it appears Shayne Thomas plans to move forward in his political aspirations in running for the 88th District State Representative against Gary Click in the spring primary election on the Republican ticket. Interestingly, Gary Click recently attended a Seneca Anti-Wind Informational meeting and he has been very engaged with our group asking questions and sharing the concern over safety regarding blade throws.

Shayne Thomas apparently has seen the writing on the wall in Seneca County with 5 out 6 townships within the Republic Wind project voting to intervene. Also, the Seneca East School Board, The Black Swamp Bird Observatory, Seneca County Commissioners, Seneca County Parks, and numerous residents in the wind projects all choosing to oppose utility scale wind energy development in Seneca County. Shayne is pictured at the end of this email surveying a large group which assembled in a Republic Town Hall meeting which overwhelmingly opposed industrial wind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ50LapkfGc&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3tsHumgbZuHANPasPivFxqNZK2Uxed8kkjrYVqEzvVOORqCrpMHCviag0

In violation of section 2921.43 of Chapter 102 of the Ohio Revised Code, Commissioner Thomas has used his position in Seneca County to promote and secure wind projects for the financial gain of his family. (https://www.ethics.ohio.gov/education/factsheets/ethicslaw.pdf)

#WeWontForget #NOwindturbinesinSenecaCounty

 

Why BigWind DOESN’T work

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Unfortunately, the Climate enthusiasts and BigWind have successfully persuaded a lot of the American public that Wind and Solar are Green, Clean, and Free. If only, we had more of it all over America, our climate problems would be solved. WARNING: THIS IS FALSE! 

Renewable energy must ALWAYS be backed up with fossil fuels and if it is not, then it must require massive, environmentally toxic (and cost prohibitive) batteries to function. Do you know someone who needs proof? This is easy. Just ask them to look up any of the dozens of articles about Georgetown, TX. This is a community that chose to ‘attempt’ to go 100% renewable and they are now going bankrupt. The Green New Deal is only Green for the companies who will line their pockets with cash….

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Georgetown, Texas – population 75,000 – was to be the new poster child of the green movement.

Environmental interest in Georgetown’s big push to generate all of its electricity from wind and solar power was amplified by three factors: the town and its mayor were nominally Republican; Georgetown is in an oil- and natural gas-rich state; and that state is deep-red Texas.

Former Vice President Al Gore and other climate change luminaries feted Georgetown Mayor Dale Ross, and Ross was featured prominently at renewable energy conventions.

TEXAS TOWN’S ENVIRONMENTAL NARCISSISM MAKES AL GORE HAPPY WHILE STICKING ITS CITIZENS WITH THE BILL

Last October, while the green dream was still in full flower, the city applied for a $1 million grant from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s nonprofit, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and won it.

Ostensibly to be used for energy storage innovation in batteries, the grant’s only real requirement was that the city serve as a public relations platform in Bloomberg’s push to convince Americas to abandon affordable fossil fuels and switch to more costly renewable energy.

Trouble started when politicians’ promise of cheaper renewable energy was mugged by reality.

Georgetown’s electric bills went up as more wind and solar power displaced cheaper natural gas in the power portfolio of the Georgetown’s municipal utility. Politicians scrambled for cover. And the bloom came off Georgetown’s renewable rose.

Now, largely embarrassed members of the City Council are trying to figure out how to unwind the renewable mess they and their predecessors voted themselves into.

With their municipal utility facing a $7 million shortfall – money that has to be made up by the city residents through higher electricity costs – the City Council voted 5-1 in July to instruct the staff to figure out how to wriggle out of the Bloomberg PR deal…..

Chuck DeVore link

And in another article…In justifying making his city 100% renewable (it’s really not, but more on that later), Ross has said, “This is a fact-based decision we made in Georgetown, and first and foremost it was an economic decision…” Ross went on to tout to the German television show, “…we are paying the same amount per kilowatt hour in year one than we are in year 25 with no cost escalation, so that meets the objective of cost certainty. And then in terms of regulatory risk — the knuckleheads in D.C. — what’s there to regulate with wind and solar? It’s clean energy. So this as the perfect solution for the citizens we were elected to serve.”

But there are two big problems with Ross’ statements.

First, Georgetown just announced that it is renegotiatingits wind and solar energy contracts after energy costs came in about $23.1 million over budget in 2016 and 2017. This year, the city—meaning the city’s taxpayers—paid $8.6 million more for electricity than expected due to falling electricity prices. The city made up $1.8 million of the shortfall by not spending as much as budgeted on investments in electric infrastructure. So much for getting a good deal for the taxpayer.

Second, wind and solar aren’t without risk from government policy, regulatory or otherwise. In fact, a huge part of the renewable market is entirely artificial—propped up by government subsidies and mandates as well as policies that allow periodic renewable power sources to send electricity to the grid whenever they produce it while the cost of maintaining the grid’s reliability are levied upon others: consumers and reliable baseload generators that pay for fuel in exchange for being able to produce power whenever it’s needed….

Forbes description link

Hey BigWind, OH citizens have the right to HEAR!

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Isn’t our government supposed to be BY and FOR the people? Then why is it that the people, of Ohio, have a government board, the OPSB (Say Yes to BigWind Board) which is allowed to APPROVE BigWind projects Looooonnnnng before Ohio citizens know anything about it? Case in point is below. Land was leased 10 years ago, for a BigWind project, yet the first public informational meeting was not held until 2018!?! This is outrageous. Ohio citizens have the right to have the light shown on these deceptive, unethical practices of BigWind…..

The project slated for Erie and Huron counties impacts the following townships: Groton, Oxford, Lyme, Ridgefield, Sherman, Norwich and Richmond. Townships were an ideal choice for this project’s location because, absent a referendum, the residents have no direct voice in the matter.

Most residents want a referendum, and the time for one is critical. I agree that a referendum should not be held after a project receives certification from the Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB). The time for both a referendum and a public meeting is when leases are offered to landowners. Although land for the Emerson Creek Wind Project was leased as long ago as 2009, the first public information meeting required by the OPSB was nine years later in November 2018….

Information about the cost and financial backing of this project is not available. When I asked the Power Siting Board about that, public spokesman Matt Butler replied, “It is not uncommon for an applicant to request confidential treatment of financial data, as APEX has done in this case.” A number of published sources state that without tax benefits and outright subsidies, no company would be involved in building a wind project.

The issues are serious. These turbines are 655 tall…

Anne Southworth

Monroeville

Ohiocitizensneedtohear

BigWind Halted by Seneca County, Ohio

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The Seneca Anti-Wind Union (SAWU) was created by residents who are concerned about the growing number of wind farms popping up throughout their community. The group has been talking to elected officials, gathering research, and growing rapidly. They believe they have just won a significant victory – Seneca Wind withdrew its application for a large wind farm on August 9.

“After a long tough battle Seneca Wind has withdrawn its application to build its 77 turbine project in Seneca County. Seneca Wind applied for delays in the process five times due to unfinished details, but the Ohio Power Siting Board has denied any further delay causing Seneca Wind to withdraw,” SAWU member Chris Aichholz told The Ohio Star. 

“Problems with the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] approval seems to have been the final straw. Although Seneca Wind reserves the right to re-apply for the project this would be an expensive and lengthy process. Also complicating things for them is the fact that a large number of leases have expired and many of the landowners want out of the project,” Aichholz added.

“Seneca Wind had made the case in court that the leases were still in force because the project was in the construction phase, but since the application has been withdrawn that argument would no longer seem to have any validity. This is a victory for those fighting to protect Seneca County from being transformed into an industrial zone without local residents having a vote on the matter,” he said….

The group said they are working with State Reps. Bill Reineke (R-Tiffin) and Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati) to draft a bill that includes language stripped from House Bill 6 – language that would have given local residents the right to referendum a wind farm.

One major argument against wind farming in Ohio is that farms aren’t generally located in areas that have sufficient wind resources to make them profitable. According to the government data, Seneca County and most of Ohio barely have those minimal requirements.

State Sen. Andrew Brenner (R-Powell), who sits on the Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee, said, “Wind turbines are not as viable an option here in Ohio because our wind isn’t as steady as out west. Most wind farms would not exist [here] without federal and state subsidies.”…

Another opponent is the Black Swamp Bird Observatory. They testified against the Seneca Wind Project, one of several wind farms slated for Seneca County, when the issue came before the Ohio Power Siting Board. In addition to noting that local birds and bats can be killed by wind turbines, the Observatory also said they are “located squarely within the migratory pathway of birds flying through Seneca County on their way to and from breeding areas in the northern United States and Canada and wintering areas of Central and South America. This migratory pathway is one of the preeminent and most important migration routes for birds in North America.”…

The National Weather Service revealed the impact of wind farms on weather radar in their article Wind Farm Interference Shows Up on Doppler Radar. The Department of Energy acknowledged the radar problem as well.

“If not mitigated, such wind development can cause potential interference for radar systems involved in air traffic control, weather forecasting, homeland security, and national defense missions,” it said…

Additionally, SAWU and other opponents note the environmental issues with wind energy. The Wall Street Journalwrote, “building one wind turbine requires 900 tons of steel, 2,500 tons of concrete and 45 tons of plastic.”

Mark Mills’ article in the Journal, “If You Want ‘Renewable Energy,’ Get Ready to Dig,” claims “renewable energy” is a misnomer. He explains that turbines require massive batteries made from non-renewable products. A massive increase in wind farms will require a significant investment in mining. The decommissioning of old turbines will produce millions of tons of waste…

TheOhioStar

If BigWind gets Higher, we can get closer, right? NO!!

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That’t right, BigWind is proposing TALLER turbines in the USA…while they lobby, hard in Ohio, for SHORTER safety setbacks! ZERO logic. Additionally, as farmers complain that soil compaction occurs, what will occur as a result of LARGER and HEAVIER equipment on our roads and fields??????……

RECHARGE

US developers propose record 207-metre wind turbine height

A new Department of Energy report shows that the wind industry is increasingly comfortable with taller turbines that optimise project cost and performance

By Richard Kessler in Fort Worth,15 August 2019

 

Wind project developers in the US through May have proposed turbine heights up to a record 207 metres (680 feet) versus an average 146 meters for 2018 installations, as the industry benefits from technology advances, according to a new Department of Energy (DOE) report.

 

Permit applications filed with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) this year show 44% of proposed turbines will exceed 152.4 meters in height (from ground to blade tip extended directly overhead), up from 39% in 2018 and 14% in 2017. The FAA regulates all aspects of civilian aviation…

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists Mark Bolinger and Ryan Wiser, primary authors of the 2018 Wind Technologies Market Report, noted the FAA data represents total turbine height, not hub height, and therefore includes the combined effect of both tower and rotor size…

In 2018, turbine size continued to increase in response to technology advances as developers grow more comfortable with larger, taller machines that optimize project cost and performance…

 

Both rotor diameters and hub heights increased in 2018, continuing the long-term trend, according to the report…

RECHARGE

Vestas CFO sees scope for upscaled turbines on land and sea

The OEM could boost the nameplate capacity of both its onshore and offshore models further, CFO Fredriksson says

By Bernd Radowitz in Berlin,15 August 2019

 

Vestas could upscale both its currently most powerful onshore and offshore turbine models further to reach a greater nameplate capacity, the Danish OEM’s chief financial officer Marika Fredriksson told Recharge.

The manufacturer will only develop any new product or concept if it sees a clear path to both lower levelised costs of energy (LCOE) and “something in the pocket for us,” the CFO had stressed in a conference call with investors on second quarter earnings..

 

Asked be Recharge in an interview little later, whether she sees greater chances for improvements in onshore or offshore – given the fact that Vestas has already presented a 5.6MW onshore model and a 10MW offshore machine – Fredriksson said: “I would say both.”

 

“In onshore, we see a good potential to further decrease the LCOE. We have a modular approach with EnVentus and still see a great potential to lower costs further,” she said…

 

Vestas in January had unveiled its EnVentus modular platform, launching two 5.6MW models as its so far highest-capacity machines on land.

 

While most rival OEMs meanwhile also have presented turbines in the 5MW class, going much higher in onshore capacity could lead to growing headaches as far as road transport is concerned…

 

MHI Vestas chief executive Philippe Kavafyan at the launch of the V164’s 10MW version had already said the OEM likely won’t stop at that size and will move forward with more “incremental innovation through all parts of the value chain.”

 

Wait,wait! What happened to BigWind being so ‘CHEAP’?

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It is amazing that the TRUTH is twisted so well, by the renewable energy advocates and BigWind. The public is blind to it!!!…..

Rising electricity prices to come as wind, solar mandates increase

By: Guest Opinion August 6, 2019

Matthew Kandrach

 

California continues to lead the nation in mandating the deployment of wind and solar power. Unfortunately, that translates into rising electricity costs that are now poised to climb higher. It’s a development that should concern families in every state.

 

Since 2011, electricity prices in California have jumped 30 percent – the most  expensive in the western United States. And there’s no sign that this steady increase will ease.

 

While California’s renewable energy targets are particularly aggressive, they’re not the outlier one might imagine. Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have renewable energy mandates for ever-increasing amounts of wind and solar power. These mandates tend to be expensive.

 

A recent analysis from the University of Chicago found that mandates drive up electricity prices. After seven years, consumers in these states paid $125 billion more for electricity than they otherwise would.

 

While the cost of solar arrays and wind turbines has fallen, the expense of integrating them onto the grid is rising. A higher percentage of these weather-dependent sources of electricity means more expense to balance out their peaks and valleys.

 

In California, for example, the state’s solar generation can produce far too much power in the middle of the day, forcing ratepayers to pay when other states absorb it. And when that solar generation fades in the evening, or fails during bad weather, ratepayers must pay top dollar to import electricity from neighboring states. This selling low and buying high is the opposite of sound economics.

 

Wind generation poses similar problems. A think-tank led by President Obama’s former Energy Secretary, Ernest Moniz, found that California went 90 days with little or no wind power in 2017. That included multiple gaps when wind generation wasn’t available for several days. This dependence on variable electricity is monumentally challenging. And batteries are hardly a cure-all since the best grid-scale batteries provide just four to six hours of backup, hardly enough to handle days or weeks when solar and wind power are unavailable.

 

Defenders of California’s renewable-first policy say that the state’s average residential electricity bills are relatively low….

 

The U.S. Energy Information Administration recently reported that 78 utilities proposed electricity rate increases last year, the highest number since 1983. If anyone believes that moving from reliable, baseload power to weather-dependent, renewable sources of electricity wouldn’t come with rising costs, that bubble is about to burst…

Risingprices