Liberal Maine Senator Does Not Want to Understand Why Climate Change isn’t Cited in Annual Threat Assessment Report
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/liberal-maine-senator-...
By Mike LaChange
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Earlier today, DNI Director Tulsi Gabbard and others testified before the Senate Intel Committee.
Senator Angus King of Maine is an independent, but he caucuses with the Democrats. He seemed dumbfounded that Tulsi Gabbard’s Annual Threat Assessment Report didn’t include climate change as it has in years past.
To enlighten the Senator, Trump was elected and appointed people who know the climate has ALWAYS changed, and they know, no matter how many highly subsidized floating offshore windmills are built off the coats of Maine (ruining fisheries, tourism, marine life, view sheds, etc.), will not change the climate by one iota.
He was obviously trying to turn this into a gotcha moment with Gabbard, but she wasn’t playing along.
‘Surprised Me’: Angus King Bewildered As Tulsi Gabbard Explains Why ‘Climate Change’ Omitted In 2025 Threat Report
Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine expressed bewilderment Tuesday over the omission of “climate change” from the U.S. Intelligence Community’s (IC) annual threat assessment report released Monday.
The report highlights threats such as cartels, terrorists and adversarial nations, while making no mention of “climate change.”
During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on global threats, King said he was “surprised” by the omission and did not appear assuaged by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s explanation that she ordered the report be focused solely on the “most extreme and critical direct threats” to the homeland.
“One note that surprised me: I’ve been on this committee now for — this is my thirteenth year. Every single one of these reports that we have had has mentioned global climate change as a significant national security threat, except this one,” King said.
“Has something happened?
"Has global climate change been solved? "
"Why, why is that not in this report?"
"And who made the decision that it should not be in the report when it has been in every one of the eleven prior reports?”
Angus King, from impoverished Maine, has to stop whining.
He is playing soooo dumb!
Stop screwing around with weather-dependent, variable/intermittent, god-awful expensive wind and solar.
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IT IS OVER, ENDED, KAPUT
GET OVER IT!
READ THIS ARTICLE
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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SOME HARD-HITTING COMMENTS
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/some-hard-hitting-comm...
By Willem Post
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INTRODUCTION
The only reason the IPCC has made CO2 its miracle mascot is to tie it to fossil fuels which Europe does not have enough of. The woke elites went hog-wild for wind and solar.
But, at about 30% W/S on the grid, various costs increase exponentially.
The weather-dependent, variable/intermittent W/S output, often too-little and often too-much output, creates operational difficulties that become increasingly more challenging and increasingly more costly/kWh to counteract, as proven by the UK and California for the past 5 years, and Germany for the past 10 years.
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All three have “achieved” near-zero/real- growth GDPs, the highest electricity prices/kWh, and stagnant real wages for almost all people, while further enriching the elites who live in the poshest places.
Their angry, over-taxed, over-regulated native populations are further burdened by the elites bringing in tens of millions of uninvited, unvetted, poor, uneducated, inexperienced folks from all over; a chaotic, culture-clashing burden the native populations never voted for.
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All that W/S money uglified the countryside, killed fisheries and tourism, etc.
But the climate is not any different than 30 years ago, even though, atmosphere CO2 increased from 280 ppm in 1850 to 420 ppm in 2025, 50% in 175 years.
During that time, world surface temps increased by about 1.5 C, only a small fraction of a C can be attributed to CO2, with the rest from 1) long-term cycles, such as coming out of the Little Ice Age, 2) deforestation, especially in the Tropics, 3) earth surface changes, 4) urban heat islands, etc.
BTW, the 1850 temp measurements were only in a few locations and mostly inaccurate. The 1979-to-present temp measurements (46 years) cover most of the earth surface and are more accurate, due to NASA satellites.
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The woke Euro elites tried to lure the US into going down the wind/solar/battery black hole, and make $billions in the process. That scam did not work out. The European wind industry is in shambles
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Trump spared the US from the W/S evils inflicted by the leftist, woke Democrat cabal, that used an autopen for Biden signatures and used on-the-beach/in-the-basement Biden as an increasingly dysfunctional Marionette.
Trump declared a National Energy Emergency, and put W/S/B systems at the bottom of the list, and voided their licenses, to put their environmental impact under proper scrutiny.
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Europe was using the IPCC-invented, global-warming/climate-change/CO2-is-evil hoax, so the US would also deliver electricity to users at high c/kWh, to preserve Europe’s extremely advantageous trade balance with the US.
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/international-trade-is...
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When will woke Euro elites finally admit, CO2 is a life-creating gas, absolutely essential to grow more flora and fauna, and increase crop yields to feed hungry people?
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/co2-has-a-very-minor-r...
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/we-are-in-a-co2-famine
THE DYSFUNCTIONAL STATE OF MAINE
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-dysfunctional-stat...
By Willem Post
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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 illegal aliens:
- 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 healthcare, free education 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 away from screwed-over Mainers.
- are often good at crime, murder, rape, drug and human trafficking, and driving vehicles into 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.
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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.
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Down-trodden Mainers also have to endure the insults of the government-imposed mandate of having their girls competing with “boys” on girls’ teams, and “sharing” girl bathrooms and locker rooms, and losing their matches to the “boys”, all as required by ideology-nuts Governor Mills surrounded by her cabal of idiots and her ingrown clique of bureaucrat government-tit-suckers
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MAGA may lead to higher CO2 ppm to 1) increase growth of flora and fauna all over the world, and 2) increase crop yields to feed hungry people. What is not to like?
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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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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 $525 million, 70% of project, at 6.5%/y for 20 years, 13.396 c/kWh.
Owner return on $225 million, 30% of project, at 10%/y for 20 years, 7.431 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 13.396 + 7.431 + 8 + 3 + 4 = 35.827 c/kWh
Less 50% subsidies (tax credits, 5-y depreciation, loan interest deduction) 17.913 c/kWh
Owner sells to utility at 17.913 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, low-CO2, very-low particulate/kWh
Nuclear plants, with low-cost, near-zero CO2, zero particulate/kWh
Hydro plants, with low-cost, near-zero-CO2, zero particulate/kWh
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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 system
There 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 to install 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 MWh
The 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.
I did not mention annually increasing insurance costs of risky W/S 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)
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 announcing.
The sooner the U-turn, the better for the New England, the US and Europe
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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 over
Here 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
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
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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/kWh
Subsidies 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 achieve a 15-y life, 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 other, 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 GDPs
At about 30% W/S, the entire system hits an increasingly thicker concrete wall, operationally and cost wise.
UK and Germany have hit the wall, more and more hours each day.
The cost of electricity delivered to users increased with each additional W/S/B system
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Base-load nuclear, gas and coal plants are the only rational way forward, plus the additional CO2 is very beneficial for additional flora and fauna growth and increased crop yields to feed hungry people.
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/we-are-in-a-co2-famine
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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 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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FLOATING OFFSHORE WIND IN NORWAY
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/floating-offshore-wind...
By Willem Post
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Equinor, a Norwegian company, put in operation, 11 Hywind, floating offshore wind turbines, each 8 MW, for a total of 88 MW, in the North Sea. The wind turbines are supplied by Siemens, a German company
Production will be about 88 x 8766 x 0.5, claimed lifetime capacity factor = 385,704 MWh/y, which is about 35% of the electricity used by 2 nearby Norwegian oil rigs, which cost at least $1.0 billion each.
On an annual basis, the existing diesel and gas-turbine generators on the rigs, designed to provide 100% of the rigs electricity requirements, 24/7/365, will provide only 65%, i.e., the wind turbines have 100% back up.
The generators will counteract the up/down output of the wind turbines, on a less-than-minute-by-minute basis, 24/7/365
The generators will provide almost all the electricity during low-wind periods, and 100% during high-wind periods, when rotors are feathered and locked.
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The capital cost of the entire project was about 8 billion Norwegian Kroner, or about $730 million, as of August 2023, when all 11 units were placed in operation, or $730 million/88 MW = $8,300/kW. See URL
That cost was much higher than the estimated 5 billion NOK in 2019, i.e., 60% higher
The project is located about 70 miles from Norway, which means minimal transport costs of the entire supply to the erection sites
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The project produces electricity at about 42 c/kWh, no subsidies, at about 21 c/kWh, with 50% subsidies
Subsidies shift costs from project Owners to ratepayers, taxpayers, government debt
In Norway, all work associated with oil rigs is very expensive.
Three shifts of workers are on the rigs for 6 weeks, work 60 h/week, and get 6 weeks off with pay, and are paid well over $150,000/y, plus benefits.
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If Norwegian units were used in Maine, the production costs would be even higher in Maine, because of the additional cost of transport of almost the entire supply, including specialized ships and cranes, across the Atlantic Ocean, plus
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 system
The cables would be combined into several cables to run horizontally to shore, for at least 25 to 30 miles, to several onshore substations, to the New England high voltage grid.
https://www.offshore-mag.com/regional-reports/north-sea-europe/arti...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_wind_turbine
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UK, GERMANY AND NORWAY
Norway gets 90% from hydro reservoir plants and 10% from west coast windmills.
Because of long distances, there is little connection between the north and south grid.
Any draw by the UK during W/S underproduction affects the south grid.
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The grid is pumped by generators to a voltage with 50-cycle electromagnetic waves which travel at near the speed of light. Electrons do not travel. They just vibrate at 50 Hz
Any UK underproduction, resulting in voltage drops, is immediately sensed about 800 miles away, and compensated for, by automatically opening the water valves to hydro turbines in Norway.
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A few years ago, during a W/S lull, Norway oversupplied Germany and the UK, which resulted in much higher wholesale prices in the south grid, too low water levels in reservoirs, rationing, aka blackouts/brownouts, and lots of Norwegians with mandated EVs and mandated heat pumps being peed off.
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This time the W/S lull happened again, and, just like that, the ruling-party government fell. A new ruling-party government was installed, which may, or may not, remedy the situation. INSTANT DEMOCRACY.
We should have it in the US, instead of endless lying, obfuscation, grandstanding, obstruction, etc., for up to 4 years, or, God forbid, 8 years
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NOTE: I lived in Norway for 3 years. My brother-in-law, a managing director, worked at Norsk Hydro, which provides almost all hydro power in Norway. We talk shop. He thinks the nutcases in Oslo should be exiled to Nova Zembla.
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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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Excerpt From Trump’s Speech to Congress on March 4, 2025
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/excerpt-from-trump-s-s...
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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Excerpt From Trump’s Speech to Congress on March 4, 2025
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/excerpt-from-trump-s-s...
By Willem Post
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DOGE has been examining to money flows within various government departments and agencies, and making recommendations to improve the efficiency of operations.
Here is a partial list of money flows for various purposes.
People likely had no idea of these money flows, because the government-subsidized Corporate Media, in cahoots with the federal government, either did not report them, or described them in glowing, America-does-good terms.
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USAID was created by an Executive Order signed by John F. Kennedy.
Obama was using USAID to pretend to send ‘Aid’ overseas but was laundering it to train “Rent-a-Riots” instead.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/03/huge-barack-obama-was-usin...
In the meantime, federal deficit spending and the national debt are out of control and near historic heights.
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$22 billion from HHS to provide free housing and cars for illegal aliens,
$45 million for diversity, equity and inclusion, DEI, scholarships in Burma,
$40 million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants; few people know what that is.
$8 million to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho
$60 million for Indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombian empowerment in Central America.
$8 million for making mice transgender.
$32 million for a left-wing propaganda operation in Moldova.
$10 million for male circumcision in Mozambique.
$20 million for the children’s program Arab Sesame Street in the Middle East.
$1.9 billion to recently created decarbonization of homes committee headed up by Stacey Abrams.
$3.5 million for a consulting contract for fish monitoring.
$1.5 million for voter confidence in Liberia.
$14 million for social cohesion in Mali.
$59 million for hotel rooms for illegal aliens in New York City.
$250,000 to increase vegan local climate action innovation in Zambia.
$42 million for social and behavior change in Uganda.
$14 million for improving public procurement in Serbia.
$47 million for improving learning outcomes in Asia. Asia's doing very well with learning. Could use it ourselves.
$101 million for DEI contracts at the Department of Education.
Here is some more of the insane USAID spending that was recently found by DOGE:
$40 million to the Taliban every single week
$68 Million to World Economic Forum while ‘penetrating Cabinets’
$98 Million on attempting to overthrow Venezuelan President Maduro
$2 million for Moroccan pottery classes
$100 million to fund studies and research getting people to eat less pizza
$7.9 million to teach Sri Lankan journalists how to avoid “binary-gendered language”
$4.5 million to “combat disinformation” in Kazakhstan
$446,700 to promote the expansion of atheism in Nepal
$1.5 million for “art for inclusion of people with disabilities”
$2 million promoting tourism to Lebanon
$20 million for a Sesame Street show in Iraq
$ millions sending elite Ukranians to Paris Fashion Week
$1.5 million for DEI in Serbia
$70,000 for a DEI musical in Ireland
$47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia
$32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru
$2 million for sex changes in Guatemala
$40 million for AIDS drugs for transgender prostitutes in South Africa
$6 million to “transform digital spaces to reflect feminist democratic principles”
$10 million worth of USAID-funded meals, which went to an al Qaeda-linked terrorist group
$25 million for Deloitte to promote “green transportation” in the country of Georgia
$6 million for tourism in Egypt
$1 million to help disabled people in Tajikistan to become climate leaders
$15 million for 'contraceptives and condoms’ in Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan (recall this is for flying bombs)
$27 million to the George Soros prosecutor fund
$3.9 million for "LGBT causes" in the western Balkans
$5.5 million for LGBT activism in Uganda
$6 million for advancing LGBT issues in "priority countries around the world"
$8 million to study the effect of flavored cigarettes on bisexuals and lesbians
$6.3 million for men who have sex with men in South Africa
$2.1 million to help the BBC “value the diversity of Libyan society”
$8 million a year in federal monies on Politico subscriptions
$16.8 million for a separate “inclusion” group in Vietnam
$5 million to Eco-Health Alliance, one of the key NGOs funding bat virus research at the Wuhan lab
$20 million for a group related to a key player in the Russia-gate impeachment hoax
$1.1 million to an Armenian “LGBT group”
$1.2 million to help the African Methodist Episcopal Church Service and Development Agency in Washington, D.C., build “a state-of-the-art 440 seat auditorium”
$1.3 million to Arab and Jewish photographers
$1.5 million to promote “LGBT advocacy” in Jamaica
$1.5 million to “rebuild” the Cuban media ecosystem
$2 million to promote “LGBT equality through entrepreneurship” in Latin America
$500K to solve sectarian violence in Israel (just ten days before the Hamas October 7 attack)
$2.3 million for “artisanal and small-scale gold mining” in the Amazon
$3.9 million for “LGBT causes” in the western Balkans
$5.5 million for LGBT activism in Uganda
$6 million for advancing LGBT issues in “priority countries around the world” $6.3 million for men who have sex with men in South Africa
$8.3 million for “USAID Education: Equity and Inclusion”
$150 billion “whole-of-agency” approach to building an “equitable world with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.”
$10 million a year on empty office building
$3 million to the State Department to censor conservatives.
$2 million to fund Health and Human Services for a study on Facebook for children to see how they react to food advertisements.
$419,000 to study rats to see if lonely rats are more likely to use cocaine.
$4.8 million for Ukraine influencers
$365,000 for the National Endowment of the Arts promoting circuses in national parks.
$10 million for Girl Climate Activism in Brazil
$875,000 to fund films in the country of Jordan.
$345,002 fight terrorism with soccer
$288,000 for diversity in bird-watching
$500,000 to Ethiopia to expand its media presence
$7 million for magic-related and magic-believe projects.
$2 million for border security in the country of Paraguay
$385,000 for a pigeon statue in NYC.
$20 million for fertilizer research abroad
$123,000 to teach viral video research in Kazakhstan.
$1.5 million to spin kittens for science to study motion sickness
$720,479 for Mexican duck conservation
$20 million for Sesame St in Iraq
$1.7 million for the Federal Bureau of Advanced Staple Engineering to create the ultimate stapler that never jams
$1.5 million for conference room swivel chairs to ensure all chairs swivel at the same rate
$1.3 million to the office of highlighter color coordination
$2.4 Million to the research initiative on pencil sharpening efficiency.
$1.6 million to the strategic paperweight design program
$1.4 million to the national bubble wrap stress relief study
$900,000 to the borough of Mailbox Fernsway ·
$2.3 million to the Federal Balloon Animal Training Academy to learn how to twist balloons into animal figures
$3 million to the office of puddle depth management
$1.5 million to the Bureau of Alarm Clock Testing.
Unauthorized Spending Programs on Autopilot
The below programs should have had congressional approval every year to continue, so this is not just a Democrat problem, this is a government fraud/waste/abuse problem. It is merely added to the national debt.
$500 Billion a Year for Over 1,200 Programs
These programs are running on autopilot. The programs were originally intended to be in effect for one year;
Instead, they remained in effect for years·
$38 billion annually Foreign Relations Act approval expired 2004, still in effect today.
$48 billion annually 21st Century Cures Act expired 30 years ago, still in effect today
$37 billion annually Quality Housing Act of 1998 expired 1999, still in effect today
$25 billion annually NASA Authorization Act of 2017 expired 2018, still in effect today
$7 billion annually The Energy Policy Act Of 2005 Expired 2006, still in effect today
$9 billion annually Workforce and Opportunities Act of 2014 expired 2015, still in effect today
More Fraud - https://x.com/i/status/1887509137652687351
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Many more have been found, exposed, and recommended to be terminated by a group of very intelligent, mostly young people, headed by Elon Musk
DOGE found hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud.
The money was taken back, and reduced the US national debt
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The Democrats howling, moaning, groaning is about their past misdeeds finally 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. Red Card!
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That would really make a difference towards fiscal sanity over the years.
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COMMENT
More rain is not a problem.
Warmer weather is not a problem.
More arable land is not a problem.
Longer growing seasons is not a problem.
Increased flora and fauna on earth, due to more CO2 in atmosphere is not a problem.
There is no Climate Crisis.
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Without using coal, oil and gas, we would have:
Nothing made of plastic
No electricity
No running water
No central heating or air conditioning
No transportation aside from walking or horseback
Inadequate food
No communications aside from shouting or smoke signals
No WINDMILLS, SOLAR PANELS, EVs and BATTERIES
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Without coal, oil, gas, we would be:
Walking on moccasins
Using dugout canoes
Riding with no saddles on horseback
Living In tepees and stone-back log cabins
All just like the US natives, who did not know how to use fossil fuels
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We have come a long way, baby, and fossil fuels made it happen.
Drill, baby, drill!
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