Green Agenda Fallout: Democrat-Led Northeast Now Has Highest Electricity Prices In Nation
Reeling from their 2024 election loss, Democrats are scrambling to reconnect with the working class—yet their brilliant strategy of embracing socialist and communist candidates, doubling down on un-American woke ideology, shielding criminal illegal aliens, and supporting dark-money NGOs that fuel insurrectionist behavior like the Los Angeles riots—isn't a comeback plan but just political suicide.
The party of leftist social justice warriors is cracking under the weight of its own failures. Woke culture is imploding, "green" fantasies are backfiring, and nowhere is this more evident than in the Democrat stronghold states of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, where the retirement of stable, affordable fossil fuel power in favor of unreliable solar and wind is driving up energy costs to the highest in the nation this summer and breaking the pocketbooks of working-class families they claim to champion.
Energy policies should balance three key objectives: affordability, reliability, and environmental sustainability — often referred to as the "energy trilemma." Yet Democrats rammed through climate policies that torched two objectives, affordability and reliability for the environment.
According to the latest EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook for July, the average summer wholesale power prices across the PJM, NYISO, and ISO-NE grids are the highest in the nation. These prices now far exceed those in Texas' ERCOT, the U.S. average, and even the traditionally high-cost West Coast markets. The blame is squarely focused on the Democrats' initiative to decarbonize power grids.
Whatever happened to the Biden-Harris regime's Inflation Reduction Act (green new deal scam)??
The rest appears at the following weblink:
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/green-agenda-fallout-democrat...
'Betrayal Of Every American' - Barack Obama Now Squarely In Russiagate Crosshairs
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/treasonous-conspiracy-dni-gabba...
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Comment by Willem Post 6 hours ago
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Germany, the UK, France, etc., are in Chaotic De-growth Mode
https://willempost.substack.com/p/germany-the-uk-france-etc-are-in?...
By Willem Post
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Europe is in deep trouble because of:
1) Uncontrolled immigration,
2) Economic stagnation, due to excessive-reliance on wind and solar, and expensive energy and materials imports
3) Rising government and personal debt,
4) Increased defense spending, due to a gross lack of defense capability against “enemies”,
5) High youth unemployment, due to a lack of suitable skills, especially among immigrants.
6) Increased spending on expensive household and industrial/commercial electricity and
7) Society-destabilizing, undemocratic censorship.
The Euro elites have forced populations to put up with, and pay for, tens of millions of unvetted walks-ins, who make minimal contributions, cause maximal trouble, crime and chaos, all while sucking from the government tit.
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The woke elites in Europe and the US are pre-maturely closing, already-paid-for, in-good-working-order, nuclear plants.
The woke elites have banned 1) oil and gas fracking projects, 2) gas/oil pipelines, 3) gas/oil storage systems near power plants, and 4) new energy exploration projects, as part of "leaving it in the ground"
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The US should not bail out Europe by exporting its valuable coal, oil and LNG.
The US should use them to make more products and services for domestic use and exports.
That way the US would reduce imports and increase exports, which would rapidly decrease our decades of wealth/job-sucking trade deficits, and would employ tens of millions of additional US workers, which would strengthen families and communities.
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The very important results of DOGE are not reported by the leftist, USAID-subsidized, Corporate US Media, but the criticisms of DOGE are reported 24/7/365.
The people in New England, the US and Europe are permanently kept in the dark, already for at least 5 decades, or more.
The Social-Media, by gaining eyeballs, is quickly ending the Corporate-Media monopoly, which is losing eyeballs.
But the Euro elites are hell-bent to put social media in straight-jackets ASAP, because they provide a public forum for free speech.
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Coal electricity less costly, available NOW, not pie in the sky, like expensive Fusion and Small Modular Nuclear
Assume mine-mouth coal plant in Wyoming; 1800 MW (three x 600 MW); turnkey-cost $10 b; life 50 y; CF 0.9; no subsidies.
Payments to bank, $5 b at 6% for 50 y; $316 m/y x 50 = $15.8 b
Payments to Owner, $5 b at 10% for 50 y; $504 m/y x 50 = $21.2 b
Lifetime production, base-loaded, 1800 x 8766 x 0.9 x 50 = 710,046,000 MWh
Ignored cost; O&M escalates at 4%; insurance escalates at 4%; periodic overhauls.
For lower electricity cost/kWh, borrow more money, say 70%
Nuclear has similar economics
Wyoming coal, at mine-mouth $15/US ton, 8600 Btu/lb, plant efficiency 40%, Btu/ton = 2000 x 8600 = 17.2 million
Lifetime coal use = 710,046,000,000 kWh/y x (3412 Btu/kWh/0.4)/17,200,000 Btu/US ton = 353 million US ton
Lifetime coal cost = $5.3 billion
Electricity cost = (15.8 + 21.2 + 5.3) x 1,000,000,000/710,046,000,000 = 6 c/kWhFor perspective, China used 2204.62/2000 x 4300 = 4740 million US ton in 2024
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Trade Deficits, Balance-of-Payment Deficits, Debt
Trump is trying to reduce 50 years of trade deficits and balance-of-payment deficits.
Trump is trying to reduce decades of waste fraud and abuse in the federal government, which leads to deficit spending, due to no controls, computers not talking to each other, ancient software systems.
Trump is trying to undo the open border bull crap, DEI bull crap, gender bull crap, etc.Without a doubt, this means stepping on many people’s toes.
Would you rather have 10 years of 1930s-style depression?.
Deficit spending and printing Treasury bonds to “paper” the deficit is inflationary, because that “out-of-thin-air money” comes with an interest rate and a national debt.
Right now, the interest on the national debt is more than ONE $TRILLION PER YEAR.
That interest is “paid for” with printing more Treasury bonds to “paper” the interest.
On and on it goes, whistling past the graveyard, stretching the rubber band.
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Very often, many of our wealth/job-sucking trading “partners” use the money of their trade surpluses to: 1) buy Treasury bonds, 2) buy US companies, 3) invest in their own export industries to increase exports, 4) pay benefits to retirees, etc.
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Example of “Rules-Based” Rip-Off
Trading partners charge high prices for auto parts sent to Mexico, then assemble these “expensive” parts in their Mexico assembly plants, then ship whole cars to their dealerships into the US, DUTY FREE.
That way minimal tax is paid on near-zero profits reported in the US, maximum profits are reported in home countries, and maximum taxes are paid on these profits to home governments. Our trading “partners” love this racket.
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All of that has nothing to do with “quantitative easing”, i.e., the Federal Reserve declaring it has money, which it loans to banks and other financial entities that over-extended themselves on issuing dubious loans, such as MBOs, etc.
The US is in very deep debt-do-do. Trading “partners” aim to keep the US in its do-do, while professing “to be helpful”.
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PEACE WOULD BE A BLESSING FOR UKRAINE
https://willempost.substack.com/p/peace-would-be-a-blessing-for-ukr...
By Willem Post
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THE IMPOVERISHED, DYSFUNCTIONAL STATE OF MAINE
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-dysfunctional-stat...
By Willem Post
.The over-taxed, over-regulated, already-impoverished Maine people are super-screwed, trying to make ends meet in a near-zero, real growth Maine economy
The Maine economy has lots of low-tech/low-pay/low-benefit, bs jobs
The Maine economy has lots of woke, leftist bureaucrats
Screwed-over Mainers also have to pay for poverty-stricken, aliens of different cultures from all over, who illegally enter the US, a federal felony
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Those unvetted, illegal, often voting aliens from all-over:
- are the dregs of Third World countries, sent to Maine by their US-hating, leftist, woke governments, in cahoots with Soros/Biden-financed NGOs
- are getting free housing, free food, a never-empty credit card, free phones, free healthcare, free education/job training and whatever other goodies they want..
They mainly suck from the government tit:
- have no skills, no training, no education, no modern industrial experience.
- will take low-tech/low-pay/low-benefit jobs at 30% less than screwed-over Mainers.
- are often good at crime, murder, rape, drug and human trafficking, and driving vehicles into native merrymakers.- the tens of millions of incompatible, subversive, walk-ins would rather undermine, instead of fight for traditional European and US values and culture.
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Many millions of illegal aliens have to be shipped back where they came from, before they forever ruin the US, as they ruined Europe, France ,the UK, Ireland, Spain, etc.
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Down-trodden Mainers often have to put up with the visual ugliness and noise of hundreds of windmills, that are often idle, because of too little wind year-round, and many thousands of acres of solar panels, that are often covered with snow and ice in winter; there is no solar at night.
.Down-trodden Maine families also have to endure the insults of government-imposed mandates of having their girls compete with “boys” on girls’ teams, and “sharing” girl bathrooms and locker rooms, and “losing” their matches to the “boys”, all as mandated by woke Governor Mills, surrounded by her cabal of idiots and her ingrown clique of bureaucrats sucking from the government tit.
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Net-zero by 2050 to-reduce CO2 is a super-expensive suicide pact, to increase command/control by governments, and enable the moneyed elites to get richer, at the expense of all others, by using the foghorn of the government-subsidized/controlled Corporate Media to spread scare-mongering slogans and brainwash people..
Ignore CO2, because greater CO2 ppm in atmosphere is an absolutely essential ingredient for: 1) increased green flora to increase fauna all over the world, and 2) increased crop yields to feed 8 billion people.
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SMALL MODULAR REACTORS
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/small-modular-reactors
By Willem Post
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SMRs sounds good, but the electricity cost/kWh would be at least 2 times gas fired CCGT plants.
Such plants are up to 60% efficient, have very low CO2/kWh.
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It would take at least 5 to 8 years to build SMRs at a rate of say 50 units per year, because the US no longer has the thousands of educated and trained nuclear engineering professionals capable of designing any nuclear plants.
The US lost that capability after Three Mile Island in March, 1979, more than 45 years ago..
Also, the US has not enough working-age people who 1) know how to do more complicated stuff, 2) care enough to do it, 3) have the work ethic and mental discipline, or 4) are otherwise inspired to make them selves useful.
Factories have 400,000 unfilled jobs, but there are few skilled, ambitious people to take them.
People have weird expectations; they want to make big bucks doing nothing..
The US has a total lack of Science/Technology/Engineering/Mathematics (STEM) professionals who are in high places to call the shots.
The US has been filling the shortfall with Chinese, Indian, etc., STEM folks.
The vacuum at the top was filled by lawyer/liberal arts/enviro functionaries who know next to nothing, except obstruction; Hochul, Newsom, etc., are demagogue-style examples.
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At present, no country is set up to produce, say 50 SMRs per year, at 200 MW each.
China, Russia, South Korea, and the US, with large command/control economies, would be the only countries able set up the required A-to-Z infrastructures.
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A 500 MW (2 units at 250 MW each) CCGT power plant can be built in two years, at a turnkey cost of $2000/kW.
New York State has finally agreed to allow the building of the gas pipeline from Pennsylvania to New England.
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If four countries were building 50 SMRs/y each, it would require:
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Increased uranium mining,
Processing the uranium into fuel bundles,
Constructing factories to produce components and subassemblies,
Constructing factories for assembling the final units near harbors.
Shipping the assembled unis to the site, likely by ship or barge,
Selection and preparation of the site near harbors,
Adding the remaining balance of plant systems,
Plant test operation of each subsystem,
Connecting the plant to the grid, with switchyard,
Test operation of the entire plant,
Commissioning the plant to produce electricity at design output
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AI systems require lots of steady electricity
Each major AI system should be required to have its own power plant
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By definition, weather-dependent, variable/intermittent, grid-disturbing, heavily subsidized, expensive wind and solar systems do not qualify.
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/high-cost-kwh-of-w-s-s...
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NEW GAS PIPELINE DIRELY NEEDED IN NEW ENGLAND TO PROVIDE STEADY POWER FOR AI AND OTHER MODERN NEEDS
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/new-gas-pipeline-direl...
By Willem Post
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Sloganeering Replacing Rational Thinking
Most New England states have gone absolutely apeshit about environmental and other issues.
Rational thinking by independent STEM professionals is replaced with inane slogans by brainwashed nincompoops with signs at gatherings, as duly reported, ad nauseam, by the government-subsidized Corporate Media.
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Environmental LawfareNo state can make laws that reach beyond its borders to affect other states, countries, people, companies.
Every state attorney knows this. Every law student knows this.
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Section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) has a provision that allows states to block federally approved projects, if they do not meet local environmental standards.That provision likely would be declared unconstitutional by a Republican-leaning Supreme Court.
Trump has declared a National Energy Emergency
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New Natural Gas PipelineNew England has needed a new gas pipeline from Pennsylvania to New England, already for about 20 years.
States trying to stop it may be in violation of interstate commerce laws
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The gas pipeline is direly needed to save the near-zero/real-growth New England economy from brown-outs/black-outs in winter..
It is highly likely, New England will have much higher electricity prices, c/kWh, due to:
1) increased, weather-dependent, grid-disturbing, environmentally destructive, highly subsidized, wind and solar systems on the grid, and
2) increased super-expensive, highly subsidized, short-life, battery systems to counteract the ups and downs of wind/solar outputs, on a less than minute-by-minute basis, 24/7/365
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By now, it should be abundantly obvious, no additional offshore windmills will be built for at least the next 10 years, if Vance becomes President after Trump.
Weather ConditionsIn the US, the South is the worst area for onshore wind, New England is next worst.
In the US, the cloudy/rainy/foggy Washington State area is the worst area for solar
This has been known for at least 4 decades by states and the federal government.
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US TREASURY FINALLY SCRUTINIZING PAYMENT REQUESTS
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/us-treasury-finally-sc...
By Willem Post
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The Democrats howling, moaning, groaning is about their misdeeds being discovered.
All those people that were sucking of the federal-money tit are sucking no more
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Democrats are also upset about the likely discovery of even more misdeeds, which puts an end to/slows down their games and gravy trains.
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The chaos you see in the US is partially due to millions of Democrats and organizations/NGOs no longer getting blank checks from the US Treasury, as they did courtesy of Secretary Yellen of the Biden regime.
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US Treasury Dealing with Payment Requests
Elon Musk's DOGE was flabbergasted to discover 1) the lack of tying payments to approved budgets had been going on for decades, and 2) the lack of routing numbers.
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Millions of payments were made, but could not be traced, which means no taxes were paid on them!Free, untaxed money down millions of black holes for decades!
Millions of people involved!.
Scott Bessent, as US Treasury Secretary, rationally requires any payment request to have:
1) A line item of the law that authorizes it (if no money is left, no payment is made), and
2) A routing number indicating the recipient’s name and bank account number (if the recipient appears shady, no payment is made).
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Under Yellen, many Democrat bureaucrats were asked by Congress people, NGOs, etc., to make payments to “this and that” worthwhile cause.”
However, these bureaucrats are no longer bothering to send “payment requests” to the US Treasury, because of the “stricter” rules.
The result? Major leftist Democrat consternation about the gravy trains suddenly ending. Riots in the streets. Burning Teslas, because DOGE is at fault.
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In due time, that will finally reduce federal budget deficits.
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Subsidizing the Corporate Media
The federal government was buying tens of thousands of high-priced subscription services from the Corporate Media, which acted as a government subsidy.
In turn, the Media provide near 100% favorable treatment for Biden Democrats, 100% unfavorable treatment for Trump Republicans. Almost all those subscriptions were cancelled.
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Coddling Self-Serving Bureaucrats
DOGE found federal employees use 4.6 million credit cards 90 million times/y to spend $40 billion/y, there are 2.1 million federal employees.
DOGE recommended about 470,000 credit cards used by bureaucrats be cancelled, because of waste, fraud and abuse
Musk’s DOGE Group
Much more fraud, waste and abuse has been found, exposed, and recommended to be terminated by a group of very intelligent, mostly young people, headed by Elon Musk, who has taken a step back to concentrate on his businesses.
DOGE found about $160 billion of waste, fraud and abuse within about 100 days.
The money was taken back, and reduced the US national debt
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Some Articles for Reference
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Net Zero by 2050 is a Suicide Pact, CO2 ppm is near its lowest level in 600 million years
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/net-zero-by-2050-is-a-...
By Willem Post
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CO2 Has a Very Minor Global Warming Role in the Atmosphere
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/co2-has-a-very-minor-r...
By Willem Post
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CO2 is a Life-giving Gas; We are in a CO2 Famine
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/we-are-in-a-co2-famine
By Willem Post
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Ban the Expensive, Dysfunctional Offshore Wind Turbine Fiasco
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/ban-the-dysfunctional-...
by Willem Post
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A Program for a Greater America with a Much Smaller Federal Government
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/a-program-for-a-greate...
by Willem Post
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International Trade is a Dog-Eat-Dog Business
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/international-trade-is...
By Willem Post
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NUCLEAR PLANTS TOO EXPENSIVE?
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/nuclear-plants-too-exp...
By Willem Post
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DEEP OCEAN SEISMIC EVENTS ADD ENERGY TO PERIODIC EL NINOs
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/natural-forces-cause-p...
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/hunga-tonga-volcanic-e...By Willem Post
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SOME HARD-HITTING COMMENTS
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/some-hard-hitting-comm...
By Willem Post
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The Expensive Folly of Electric 18-Wheelers
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-expensive-folly-of...
Willem Post
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BATTERY SYSTEM CAPITAL COSTS, OPERATING COSTS, ENERGY LOSSES, AND AGING
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/battery-system-capital...by Willem Post
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NEW ENGLAND ELECTRICITY 100% FROM WIND AND SOLAR by 2050?
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/new-england-electricit...
By Willem Post
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THE DYSFUNCTIONAL STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS WITH GIANT BATTERIES
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-dysfunctional-stat...
By Willem Post
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FLOATING OFFSHORE WINDMILLS IN IMPOVERISHED STATE OF MAINE
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/floating-offshore-wind...
By Willem Post
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HIGH COST/kWh OF W/S SYSTEMS FOISTED ONTO A BRAINWASHED PUBLIC
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/high-cost-kwh-of-w-s-s...
By Willem Post
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PHYSICS DEMONSTRATES INCREASING GREENHOUSE GASES CANNOT CAUSE DANGEROUS WARMING, EXTREME WEATHER OR ANY HARM
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/physics-demonstrates-i...
https://co2coalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Lindzen-Happer-...
By Richard Lindzen and William Happer
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BATTERY SYSTEM CAPITAL COSTS, OPERATING COSTS, ENERGY LOSSES, AND AGING
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/battery-system-capital...by Willem Post
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Utility-scale, battery system pricing usually is not made public, but for this system it was.
Neoen, in western Australia, has just turned on its 219 MW/ 877 MWh Tesla Megapack battery, the largest in western Australia.
Ultimately, it will be a 560 MW/2,240 MWh battery system, $1,100,000,000/2,240,000 kWh = $491/kWh, delivered as AC, late 2024 pricing. Smaller capacity systems will cost much more than $500/kWh
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Annual Cost of Megapack Battery Systems; 2023 pricing
Assume a system rated 45.3 MW/181.9 MWh, and an all-in turnkey cost of $104.5 million, per Example 2
Amortize bank loan for 50% of $104.5 million at 6.5%/y for 15 years, $5.484 million/y
Pay Owner return of 50% of $104.5 million at 10%/y for 15 years, $6.765 million/y (10% due to high inflation)
Lifetime (Bank + Owner) payments 15 x (5.484 + 6.765) = $183.7 million
Assume battery daily usage for 15 years at 10%, and loss factor = 1/(0.9 *0.9)
Battery lifetime output = 15 y x 365 d/y x 181.9 MWh x 0.1, usage x 1000 kWh/MWh = 99,590,250 kWh to HV grid; 122,950,926 kWh from HV grid; 233,606,676 kWh loss
(Bank + Owner) payments, $183.7 million / 99,590,250 kWh = 184.5 c/kWh
Less 50% subsidies (tax credits, 5-y depreciation, loan interest deduction) is 92.3c/kWhSubsidies shift costs from project Owners to ratepayers, taxpayers, government debt
At 10% throughput, (Bank + Owner) cost, 92.3 c/kWh
At 40% throughput, (Bank + Owner) cost, 23.1 c/kWh
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Excluded costs/kWh: 1) O&M; 2) system aging, 1.5%/y, 3) 20% HV grid-to-HV grid loss, 4) grid extension/reinforcement to connect battery systems, 5) downtime of parts of the system, 6) decommissioning in year 15, i.e., disassembly, reprocessing and storing at hazardous waste sites. Excluded costs would add at least 15 c/kWh
COMMENTS ON CALCULATION
Almost all existing battery systems operate at less than 10%, per EIA annual reports i.e., new systems would operate at about 92.4 + 15 = 107.4 c/kWh. They are used to stabilize the grid, i.e., frequency control and counteracting up/down W/S outputs. If 40% throughput, 23.1 + 15 = 38.1 c/kWh.
A 4-h battery system costs 38.1 c/kWh of throughput, if operated at a duty factor of 40%.
That is on top of the cost/kWh of the electricity taken from the HV grid to feed the batteries
Up to 40% could occur by absorbing midday solar peaks and discharging during late-afternoon/early-evening, which occur every day in California and other sunny states. The more solar systems, the greater the peaks.
See URL for Megapacks required for a one-day wind lull in New England
40% throughput is close to Tesla’s recommendation of 60% maximum throughput, i.e., not charge above 80% and not discharge below 20%, to perform 24/7/365 service for 15 y, with normal aging.
Owners of battery systems with fires, likely charged above 80% and discharged below 20% to maximize profits.
Tesla’s recommendation was not heeded by the Owners of the Hornsdale Power Reserve in Australia. They excessively charged/discharged the system. After a few years, they added Megapacks to offset rapid aging of the original system, and added more Megapacks to increase the rating of the expanded system.
http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-hornsdale-power-res...
Regarding any project, the bank and Owner have to be paid, no matter what. I amortized the bank loan and Owner’s investment
Divide total payments over 15 years by the throughput during 15 years, you get c/kWh, as shown.
There is about a 20% round-trip loss, from HV grid to 1) step-down transformer, 2) front-end power electronics, 3) into battery, 4) out of battery, 5) back-end power electronics, 6) step-up transformer, to HV grid, i.e., you draw about 50 units from the HV grid to deliver about 40 units to the HV grid, because of A-to-Z system losses. That gets worse with aging.
A lot of people do not like these c/kWh numbers, because they have been repeatedly told by self-serving folks, battery Nirvana is just around the corner.
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NOTE: Aerial photos of large-scale battery systems with many Megapacks, show many items of equipment, other than the Tesla supply, such as step-down/step-up transformers, switchgear, connections to the grid, land, access roads, fencing, security, site lighting, i.e., the cost of the Tesla supply is only one part of the battery system cost at a site.
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NOTE: Battery system turnkey capital costs and electricity storage costs likely will be much higher in 2023 and future years, than in 2021 and earlier years, due to: 1) increased inflation rates, 2) increased interest rates, 3) supply chain disruptions, which delay projects and increase costs, 4) increased energy prices, such as of oil, gas, coal, electricity, etc., 5) increased materials prices, such as of tungsten, cobalt, lithium, copper, manganese, etc., 6) increased labor rates.
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HIGH COST/kWh OF W/S SYSTEMS FOISTED ONTO A BRAINWASHED PUBLIC
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/high-cost-kwh-of-w-s-s...
By Willem Post
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What is generally not known, the more weather-dependent W/S systems, the less efficient the traditional generators, as they inefficiently counteract the increasingly larger ups and downs of W/S output. See URL
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/fuel-and-co2-reduction...
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W/S systems add great cost to the overall delivery of electricity to users; the more W/S systems, the higher the cost/kWh, as proven by the UK and Germany, with the highest electricity rates in Europe, and near-zero, real-growth GDP.
See URL
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/fuel-and-co2-reduction...
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At about 30% W/S, the entire system hits an increasingly thicker concrete wall, operationally and cost wise.
The UK and Germany are hitting the wall, more and more hours each day.
The cost of electricity delivered to users increased with each additional W/S/B system.
Nuclear, gas, coal and reservoir hydro plants are the only rational way forward.
Ignore CO2, because greater CO2 ppm in atmosphere is essential for: 1) increased green flora to increase fauna all over the world, and 2) increased crop yields to better feed 8 billion people.
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Net-zero by 2050 to-reduce CO2 is a super-expensive suicide pact, to increase command/control by governments, and enable the moneyed elites to get richer, at the expense of all others, by using the foghorn of the government-subsidized/controlled Corporate Media to spread scare-mongering slogans and brainwash people..
Subsidies shift costs from project Owners to ratepayers, taxpayers, government debt:
1) Federal and state tax credits, up to 50% (Community tax credit of 10 percent – Federal tax credit of 30 percent - State tax credit and other incentives of up to 10%);
2) 5-y Accelerated Depreciation write off of the entire project;
3) Loan interest deduction
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Utilities pay 15 c/kWh, wholesale, after 50% subsidies, for electricity from fixedoffshore wind systems
Utilities pay 18 c/kWh, wholesale, after 50% subsidies, for electricity from floating offshore wind
Utilities pay 12 c/kWh, wholesale, after 50% subsidies, for electricity from larger solar systems
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Excluded costs, at a future 30% W/S annual penetration on the grid, based on UK and German experience:
- Onshore grid expansion/reinforcement to connect distributed W/S systems, about 2 c/kWh
- A fleet of traditional power plants to quickly counteract W/S variable output, on a less than minute-by-minute basis, 24/7/365, which leads to more Btu/kWh, more CO2/kWh, more cost of about 2 c/kWh
- A fleet of traditional power plants to provide electricity during 1) low-wind periods, 2) high-wind periods, when rotors are locked in place, and 3) low solar periods during mornings, evenings, at night, snow/ice on panels, which leads to more Btu/kWh, more CO2/kWh, more cost of about 2 c/kWh
- Pay W/S system Owners for electricity they could have produced, if not curtailed, about 1 c/kWh
- Importing electricity at high prices, when W/S output is low, 1 c/kWh
- Exporting electricity at low prices, when W/S output is high, 1 c/kWh
- Disassembly on land and at sea, reprocessing and storing at hazardous waste sites, about 2 c/kWh
Some of these values exponentially increase as more W/S systems are added to the grid
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The economic/financial insanity and environmental damage of it all is off the charts.
No wonder Europe’s near-zero, real-growth GDP is in de-growth mode.That economy has been tied into knots by inane people.
YOUR tax dollars are building these projects so YOU will have much higher electric bills.
Remove YOUR tax dollars using your vote, and none of these projects would be built, and YOUR electric bills would be lower.
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Norwegian-Owned Empire Wind, 810 MW; turnkey capital cost $5 Billion; Bank loans $3 Billion; Investors stake $2 Billion; Cost/kW = $5 Billion/810 MW = $6170/kW
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/empire-wind-810-mw-tur...
By Willem Post
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New York State Utilities will be paid foreign Owners 15.5 c/kWh for 20 to 25 years
New York State Utilities will mark this up before averaging it into their cost of purchased electricity.
Ratepayers and taxpayers ARE BEING SO SCREWED
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Per various laws, the federal government and NY State government will pay enough subsidies so the foreign Owners can sell for 15.5 c/kWh, for 20 to 25 years, instead of 30 c/kWh, without any subsidies, such as:
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1) Federal and state tax credits, up to 50% (Community tax credit of up to 10% – Federal tax credit of 30% - State tax credit and other incentives of up to 10%);
2) 5-y Accelerated Depreciation write off of the entire project;
3) Loan interest deduction to reduce any taxable profits from whatever source.
Subsidies shift costs from project Owners to ratepayers, taxpayers, government debt
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Utilities pay at least 15 c/kWh, wholesale, after 50% subsidies, for electricity from fixed offshore wind systems
Utilities pay at least 18 c/kWh, wholesale, after 50% subsidies, for electricity from floating offshore wind
Utilities pay at least 12 c/kWh, wholesale, after 50% subsidies, for electricity from larger solar systems
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Excluded costs, at a future 30% W/S annual penetration on the grid, based on UK and German experience:
- Onshore grid expansion/reinforcement to connect distributed W/S systems, about 2 c/kWh
- A fleet of traditional power plants to quickly counteract W/S variable output, on a less than minute-by-minute basis, 24/7/365, which leads to more Btu/kWh, more CO2/kWh, more cost of about 2 c/kWh
- A fleet of traditional power plants to provide electricity during 1) low-wind periods, 2) high-wind periods, when rotors are locked in place, and 3) low solar periods during mornings, evenings, at night, snow/ice on panels, which leads to more Btu/kWh, more CO2/kWh, more cost of about 2 c/kWh
- Pay W/S system Owners for electricity they could have produced, if not curtailed, about 1 c/kWh
- Importing electricity at high prices, when W/S output is low, 1 c/kWh
- Exporting electricity at low prices, when W/S output is high, 1 c/kWh
- Disassembly on land and at sea, reprocessing and storing at hazardous waste sites, about 2 c/kWh
Some of these values exponentially increase as more W/S systems are added to the grid
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The economic/financial insanity and environmental damage of it all is off the charts.
No wonder Europe’s near-zero, real-growth economy is in de-growth mode.That economy has been tied into knots by inane people.
YOUR tax dollars are building these projects so YOU will have much higher electric bills.
Remove YOUR tax dollars using your vote, and none of these projects would be built, and YOUR electric bills would be lower.
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EXPENSIVE FLOATING OFFSHORE WINDMILLS IN IMPOVERISHED STATE OF MAINE
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/floating-offshore-wind...
By Willem Post
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Despite the meager floating offshore MW in the world, pro-wind politicians, bureaucrats, etc., aided and abetted by the lapdog Main Media and "academia/think tanks", in the impoverished State of Maine, continue to fantasize about building 850-ft-tall floating offshore windmills, each mounted on a 50% submerged, steel platform at least 250 ft x 250 ft x 75 ft tall to maintain the windmill in upright position in all conditions.
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Maine government bureaucrats, etc., in a world of their own climate-fighting fantasies, want to have about 3,000 MW of floating wind turbines by 2040; a most expensive, totally unrealistic goal, that would further impoverish the already-poor State of Maine for many decades.
Those bureaucrats, etc., would help fatten the lucrative, 20-y, tax-shelters of mostly out-of-state, multi-millionaire, wind-subsidy chasers, who likely have minimal regard for: 1) Impacts on the environment and the fishing and tourist industries of Maine, and 2) Already-overstressed, over-taxed, over-regulated Maine ratepayers and taxpayers, who are trying to make ends meet in a near-zero, real-growth economy.
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Those fishery-destroying, 850-ft-tall floaters, with 24/7/365 strobe lights, visible 30 miles from any shore, would cost at least $7,500/ installed kW, or at least $22.5 billion, if built in 2023 (more after 2023)
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Almost the entire supply of the Maine projects would be designed and made in Europe, then transported across the Atlantic Ocean, in European specialized ships, then unloaded at a new, $500-million Maine storage/pre-assembly/staging/barge-loading area, then barged to European specialized erection ships for erection of the floating turbines. The financing will be mostly by European pension funds.
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About 500 Maine people would have jobs during the erection phase
The other erection jobs would be by specialized European people, mostly on cranes and ships
About 200 Maine people would have long-term O&M jobs, using European spare parts, during the 20-y electricity production phase.
https://www.maine.gov/governor/mills/news/governor-mills-signs-bill...
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The Maine people have much greater burdens to look forward to for the next 20 years, courtesy of the Governor Mills incompetent, woke bureaucracy that has infested the state government
The Maine people need to finally wake up, and put an end to the climate scare-mongering, which aims to subjugate and further impoverish them, by voting the entire Democrat woke cabal out and replace it with rational Republicans in 2024
The present course leads to financial disaster for the impoverished State of Maine and its people.
The purposely-kept-ignorant Maine people do not deserve such maltreatment
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Electricity Cost
Assume a $750 million, 100 MW project consists of foundations, wind turbines, cabling to shore, and installation at $7,500/kW.
Production 100 MW x 8766 h/y x 0.40, CF = 350,640,000 kWh/y
Amortize bank loan for $375 million, 50% of project, at 6.0%/y for 20 years, 9.194 c/kWh.
Owner return on $375 million, 50% of project, at 10%/y for 20 years, 12.385 c/kWh
Offshore O&M, about 30 miles out to sea, 8 c/kWh.
Supply chain, special ships, and ocean transport, 3 c/kWh
All other items, 4 c/kWh
Total cost 9.194 + 12.385 + 8 + 3 + 4 = 36.579 c/kWh
Less 50% subsidies (ITC, 5-y depreciation, interest deduction on borrowed funds) 18.290 c/kWh
Owner sells to utility at 18.290 c/kWh
Onshore grid expansion/reinforcements, 2 c/kWh
Curtailments/Counteracting 24/7/365, 4 c/kWh
Subsidies shift costs from project Owners to ratepayers, taxpayers, government debt
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NOTE: The above prices compare with the average New England wholesale price of about 5 c/kWh, during the 2009 - 2022 period, 13 years, courtesy of:
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Gas-fueled CCGT plants, with low-cost, very-low particulate/kWh
Nuclear plants, with low-cost, zero particulate/kWh
Hydro plants, with low-cost, zero particulate/kWh
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Net-zero by 2050 to-reduce CO2 is a super-expensive suicide pact, to increase command/control by governments, and enable the moneyed elites to get richer, at the expense of all others, by using the foghorn of the government-subsidized/controlled Corporate Media to spread scare-mongering slogans and brainwash people.
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Ignore CO2, because greater CO2 ppm in atmosphere is an absolutely essential ingredient for: 1) increased green flora to increase fauna all over the world, and 2) increased crop yields to feed 8 billion people.
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Cabling to Shore Plus $Billions for Grid Expansion on Shore
A high voltage cable would be hanging from each unit, until it reaches bottom, say about 200 to 500 feet.
The cables would need some type of flexible support systemThere would be about 5 cables, each connected to sixty, 10 MW wind turbines, making landfall on the Maine shore, for connection to 5 substations (each having a 600 MW capacity, requiring several acres of equipment), then to connect to the New England HV grid, which will need $billions for expansion/reinforcement to transmit electricity to load centers, mostly in southern New England.
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The whole set-up is s super-expensive nightmare, the extent of which has been clear in Germany for the past 10 years and the UK for the past 5 years.
Both have “achieved” near-zero, real- growth GDP, the highest electricity prices in Europe, and stagnant real wages.
The W/S variable output, or too-little output, or too-much output, creates operational difficulties that become increasingly more challenging and expensive to counteract.
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Maine Folks Need Lower Energy Bills, Not Higher Energy Bills
The over-taxed, over-regulated, impoverished Maine people would buckle under such a heavy burden, while trying to make ends meet in the near-zero, real-growth Maine economy.
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THE DYSFUNCTIONAL STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS WITH GIANT BATTERIES
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-dysfunctional-stat...
By Willem Post
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A recent announcement is for a statewide, 4-h battery system, installed capacity 5000 MW/20,000 MWh.
Tesla recommends not charging to more than 80% full and not discharging to less than 20% full, to achieve normal life of 15 years and normal aging at 1.5%/y.
The delivered capacity would be 20,000 MWh x 0.6, Tesla factor x aging factor x 0.9, outage factor = 10,800 MWhThe batteries would 1) absorb midday solar peaks and deliver the electricity during peak hours of late afternoon/early evening, and 2) stabilize the grid, due to varying W/S output, 24/7/365
The turnkey cost would be about $600/installed kWh, delivered as AC at battery outlet, 2024 pricing, or $600/kWh x 20 million kWh = $12.0 billion, about every 15 years.
There will be annually increasing insurance costs for risky W/S/B projects.
If 50% were borrowed from banks, the cost of amortizing $6 billion at 6% over 15 years = $608 million/y
If 50% were from Owners, the cost of amortizing $6 billion at 10% over 15 years = $774 million/y
The two items total $1,382 million/y; another hell-of-a-big subsidy for W/S systems
There are many more cost items
Less 50% subsidies (tax credits, 5-y depreciation, loan interest deduction, etc.)
Subsidies shift costs from project Owners to ratepayers, taxpayers, government debt
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/battery-system-capital...
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No banks will finance W/S/B projects at acceptable interest rates and no insurance companies will insure them at acceptable premiums, no matter what the leftist, woke bureaucrats are announcing.
The sooner the U-turn, the better for New England, the US and Europe.
NOTE: Trump has declared a National Energy Emergency. A new gas line from Pennsylvania to New England and new gas/oil storage systems near each CCGT power plant are needed, because most of the “planned” W/S/B systems will never be built, especially after the application of tariffs.
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NEW ENGLAND ELECTRICITY 100% FROM WIND AND SOLAR by 2050?
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/new-england-electricit...
By Willem Post
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New England has Net Zero nut cases. They know nothing about energy systems and fantasize lots of nonsense.“Keep it in the ground”, they say. “All electricity from wind and solar”, they say.
When presented with numbers and facts their eyes glaze overHere is a simple analysis, if no fossil fuels, no nuclear, and minimal other sources of electricity
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/vermont-example-of-ele...
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It is assumed, 1) all W/S output, based on historic weather data, is loaded into batteries, 2) all demand is drawn from batteries, based on historic load on the grid, as published by ISO-NE.
An annual storage balance was created, which needed to stay well above zero; the batteries are not allowed to "run dry" in bad W/S years. The balance was used to determine the wind and solar capacities needed to achieve it.
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New England would need a battery system with a capacity of about 10 TWh of DELIVERABLE electricity from batteries to HV grid.
Daily W/S output would be fed to the batteries, 140 TWh/y
Daily demand would be drawn from the batteries, 115 TWh/y in 2024
Battery system roundtrip loss, HV to HV, would be 25 TWh/y, more with aging
Transmission and Distribution to users incur additional losses of about 8%, or 0.08 x 115 = 9.2 TWh
Fed to user meters = 115 – 9.2 = 105.8 TWh
The battery system would cover any multi-day W/S lulls throughout the year
Batteries would supplement W/S output, as needed, 24/7/365
W/S would charge excess output into the batteries, 24/7/365
Tesla recommends not charging to more than 80% full and not discharging to less than 20% full, to achieve normal life of 15 years and normal aging at 1.5%/y.
The INSTALLED battery capacity would need to be about 10 TWh / (0.6, Tesla factor x aging factor x 0.9, outage factor) = 18.5 TWh, delivered as AC at battery outlet.
The turnkey cost would be about $600/installed kWh, delivered as AC at battery outlet, 2024 pricing, or $600/kWh x 18.5 billion kWh = $11.1 trillion, about every 15 years.I did not mention annually increasing insurance costs of risky W/S projects.
If 50% were borrowed from banks, the cost of amortizing $5.5 trillion at 6% over 15 years = $557 billion/y
If 50% were from Owners, the cost of amortizing $5.5 trillion at 10% over 15 years = $708 billion/y
The two items total $1265 billion/y, about the same as the New England GDP.
There are many more cost items
Less 50% subsidies (tax credits, 5-y depreciation, loan interest deduction)
Subsidies shift costs from project Owners to ratepayers, taxpayers, government debt
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/battery-system-capital...
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No banks will finance W/S projects at acceptable interest rates and no insurance companies will insure them at acceptable premiums, no matter what the woke bureaucrats are pronouncing.
The sooner the U-turn, the better for New England, US and Europe
Maine as Third World Country:
CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power
Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.
Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********
(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/
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-- Mahatma Gandhi
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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law
Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future
"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."
https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/
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