Tariffs Will Kill the Wind/Solar/Battery Scam

Tariffs Will Kill the Wind/Solar/Battery Scam

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/tariffs-will-kill-the-...;

By Alan Ohnsman

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President Trump’s tariffs on U.S. imports triggered a stock market drop last week.

The tariffs likely will sharply increase prices for solar panels, windmills and batteries, key elements of the renewables scam to enrich the elites, at the expense of all others.

China, hit with a 34% tariff increase, is the world’s largest provider of raw materials for these systems.

In the case of solar panels and components, the U.S. relies more on southeast Asia, but tariffs are 46% on Vietnam, 36% on Thailand, 24% on Malaysia and 49% on Cambodia

This means photovoltaic goods from those countries will soon be dramatically more expensive, discouraging new solar systems in the US.

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Imports of wind/solar-related equipment have dropped since 2020 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, the industry remains reliant on turbine blades made by non-U.S. producers, especially west Europe

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US manufacturing of clean energy products has been very slowly growing, though the scale is still a small fraction of China’s.

With tariffs, it is unlikely to expand in the near term as the Trump Administration is working to 1) reduce/eliminate subsidies, 2) re-examine hastily issued environmental permits, 3) end funding for wind/solar/battery projects,

Very expensive, new renewables, such as Wind/Solar/Batteries, etc., plus pre-existing hydro plants and tree-burning plants accounted for about 24% of US electricity production fed to the US grid in 2024, after about 30 years of very high, unsustainable, taxpayer and ratepayer subsidies

Trump’s strategy is to use US tariffs as a bargaining tool to get many countries to:

1) reduce their decades of tariffs and non-tariff barriers on US goods, and

2) buy more goods made in the US to eliminate their trade surpluses.

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If countries do not comply, their surplus export goods will be banned from US markets

ADDITION 1

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INTRODUCTION

The IPCC has dubbed CO2 as having magical global warming power, based on its own “science”

The IPCC claims, CO2 acts as Climate Control Knob, that eventually will cause runaway Climate Change, if we continue using fossil fuels.

Governments proclaimed, Go Wind and Solar, Go ENERGIEWENDE, go Net zero by 2050, etc., and provided oodles of subsidies, and rules and regulations, and mandates, and prohibitions to make it happen.

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MAGA and burn, baby, burn, may lead to a slightly greater CO2 ppm in atmosphere, which is an absolutely essential gas/ingredient for creating: 1) increased green flora to support abundant fauna all over the world, and 2) increased crop yields to feed 8 billion people. What is not to like?

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The slogan 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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But, at about 30% annual 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.

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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, tourism, viewsheds, 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 about 0.5 C can be attributed to CO2, with the rest from:

1) Long-term cycles, such as coming out of the Little Ice Age, 

2) Earth surface changes, due to increased agriculture, deforestation, especially in the Tropics, etc.

3) Urban heat islands, such as about 700 miles from north of Portland, Maine, to south of Norfolk, Virginia, forested in 1850, now covered with heat-absorbing human detritus. Japan, China, India, Europe, etc., have similar heat islands

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BTW, the 1850 surface temp measurements were only in a few locations and mostly inaccurate, +/- 0.5 C.

The 1979-to-present temp measurements (46 years) cover most of the earth surface and are more accurate, +/- 0.25 C, due to NASA satellites.

Any graphs should show these accuracy bands.

The wiggles in below image are due to plants rotting late in the year, emitting CO2, plants growing early in the year, consuming CO2, mostly in the Northern Hemisphere.

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Europe is Not Our Ally

Net zero by 2050 Euro elites tried to entangle the US, with help of the unpatriotic, leftist Biden clique, into going down the black hole of 30,000 MW by 2030 of expensive, highly-subsidized, weather-dependent, grid-disturbing offshore windmill systems, which would need expensive, highly subsidized, short-lived, battery systems for grid support.

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The windmills would have produced electricity at about 15 c/kWh, about 2.5 times greater than from domestic US gas, coal, nuclear, hydro plants, which would have made the US even less competitive in world markets.

Any tariffs would greatly increase turnkey capital costs/MW and electricity costs/ kWh.

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Almost the entire supply of the projects would be designed and made in Europe, then transported across the Atlantic Ocean by European specialized ships, then unloaded at new, $500-million storage/pre-assembly/staging/barge-loading areas, then barged to European specialized erection ships for erection of the windmill systems. The financing would be mostly by European pension funds, that pay benefits to European retirees.

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Hundreds of people in each seashore state would have jobs during the erection phase

The other erection jobs would be by specialized European people, mostly on cranes and ships

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Hundreds of people in each seashore state would have long-term O&M jobs, using mostly European spare parts, during the 20-y electricity production phase.

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Conglomerates owned by Euro elites would finance, build, erect, own and operate almost all of the 30,000 MW of offshore windmills, providing work for many thousands of European workers for decades, and multi-$billion profits each year.

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That Euro ruse did not work out, because Trump was elected.

Trump hating Euro elites are furious. Projects are being cancelled. The European windmill industry is in shambles, with multi-$billion losses, lay-offs and tens of $billions of stranded costs.

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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.
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Trump declared a National Energy Emergency, and put W/S/B systems at the bottom of the list, and suspended their licenses to put their glossy environmental impact statements, EIS, under proper scrutiny.

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Euro elites used the IPCC-invented, “CO2-is-evil” hoax, based on its own “science”. They used the government-subsidized Corporate Media to propagate scare-mongering slogans. Wall Street elites saw an opportunity for tax shelters for its elite clients. Woke politicians were “cut-in” on $juicy deals to pass subsidies, favorable rules and regulations, and impose government mandates.

Euro elites wanted the US to deliver electricity to users at very 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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Lopsided Trade Agreements

Prior to NAFTA, Canada and Mexico always had annual trade deficits with the US
After NAFTA, Canada and Mexico, with investments by European and Asian companies, have huge DUTY-FREE annual trade surpluses with the US.

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After NAFTA, foreign (and US) companies shipped parts to Mexico and assembled cars, with their entire production shipped DUTY-FREE into the US.

That is Trojan Horse exploitation that is sucking wealth/jobs from the US.

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After NAFTA, Dutch companies shipped automated greenhouses, the size of airplane hangars, to Canada (which provides nearly free gas as an incentive), with their entire production shipped DUTY-FREE into the US.

That is Trojan Horse exploitation that is sucking wealth/jobs from the US

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Dutch/Belgian conglomerates own more than 50% of the food supermarkets on the US East Coast.

That means plenty of shelf space for European farm goods to the disadvantage of US farmers.

Europe has been doing this since the disastrous 1960s Kennedy Round, which opened US markets, without the US getting any lower tariffs and lower non-tariff barriers from Europe.
Euro elites loved Kennedy

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Free Trade?

Japan has a 700% tariff on US rice. India has a 100% tariff on US rice, Egypt has a 65% average tariff on all US goods. Canada has a 290% tariff on US dairy products.

Canada’s current economy would not be viable without the US as a neighbor. Same with Mexico

I, living in Vermont, buy my electricity (GMP), propane (IRVING), gasoline (IRVING), and some greenhouse vegetables from Canadian/Dutch companies.
Perot, a Texas businessman, predicted NAFTA would be sucking tens of $billions of wealth and millions of jobs out of the US. Deluded, brainwashed Americans laughed at Perot.
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Trump is doing the right thing with tariffs to increase US production of goods and services for domestic use and export,

that will employ tens of millions of workers, build strong families and communities, and will reduce imports of goods and services, and will transform decades of wealth/job-sucking trade deficits into trade surpluses to MAGA

German Economist: Trump Tariffs are Saving US

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/german-economist-trump...

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US has Trade Deficits with Many Countries

Hindsight is 20/20, but Bill Clinton’s decision to admit China into the WTO ranks among the greatest strategic blunders in modern history. Everything he promised would happen turned out to be the exact opposite.

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If Europe, China, etc., do not like US tariffs, why do they have their own tariffs and non-tariff barriers?

In response to US tariffs:

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- Vietnam finally reduced its tariffs to ZERO, but that is no big deal, because its sales to the US were $136.6 billion, and it bought from the US $13.1 billion, in 2024.

 

- Taiwan wants to reduce its tariffs to ZERO, but that is not a big deal, because its sales to the US were $116.26 billion, but it bought from the US $42.34 billion, in 2024.

 

- Countries with trade surpluses should think first and act after. They should:

 

1) not retaliate with tariffs, and

2) eliminate tariff barriers and non-tariff barriers, and

3) buy more US goods and services to reduce their trade surpluses to zero.

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Vietna...

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Collusion Coalition of the Desperate

Europe is arranging and coordinating a group of ideological allies to collude with counter sanctions.  Those allies include Canada and to a lesser extent, Mexico.  Trump is onto their collusion. He said, if Europe colludes with Canada to harm the US, higher US tariffs will be placed on both of them.

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Finally, the US is lucky to have a hard-nosed businessman in the White House, who cannot be $bought, instead of a senile, grifting/grafting, dysfunctional marionette, or, God-forbid, an inane, cackling word salad.

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/international-trade-is...

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When will woke Euro elites finally admit, increased CO2 ppm, an essential, life-creating gas, is needed to grow more flora and fauna, and increase crop yields to feed 8 billion 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

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Europe in Big Do-Do

Europe is in poor shape. It has a decreasing/stagnant GDP, stagnant real wages, major civil unrest, and tens of millions of incompatible, subversive, walk-ins, who will undermine, instead of fight for traditional European values and culture.

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/government-advisor-war...
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Euro elites, having lost the wind/solar “climate war”, need a new enemy to distract and unify the people.

Euro elites doing Russo-phobic, saber rattling to aid Ukraine is empty posturing, without the US “backstop”

Russia, with a growing GDP, despite sanctions, a unified people, gaining on the battlefield, would just roll over and play dead?

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Trump would be an idiot to agree to prolonging the Russia-Ukraine conflict with the US “backstop”, as demanded by the UK, because it would be a major drain on US finances for years, and a huge distraction regarding MAGA.

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However, the Deep State and in Congress, most Democrats and some Republicans would love it. 
Musk is getting close to divulge how many of these Members of Congress are outperforming investment professionals on Wall Street. They have no problem defending/financing corrupt Ukraine, an undemocratic state, where:

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1) Elections were canceled (also in Rumania), or stolen (also in Moldova), and Le Pen was sidelined in France

2) The Russian Orthodox Church was banned,

3) Political opponents were silenced/tortured/killed,

4) The USAID-subsidized pro-Ukraine media were put under total government control, “because of martial law”

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Germany, the UK, France, etc., are in Chaotic De-growth Mode

Their Euro elites are forcing populations to put up with, and pay for, tens of millions of unvetted walks-ins, who make minimal contributions, cause maximal pain, crime and chaos, all while sucking from the government tit.

Spending more on defense and Net-Zero green stuff, will be accelerating de-growth

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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 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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ADDITION 2

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THE IMPOVERISHED, 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 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 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 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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MAGA may lead to a slightly greater CO2 ppm in atmosphere, which would: 1) increase growth of flora and fauna all over the world, and 2) increase crop yields to feed 8 billion people. What is not to like?

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Net zero to reduce CO2 by 2050 is a super-expensive suicide pact, to foster command/control by the elites to screw all others by using the foghorn of the government-controlled Corporate Media.

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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 $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 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 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.

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

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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 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.

.

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.

.

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

.

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...

.

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

.

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

.

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

.

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
.
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 SUPER-RICH NORWAY 

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/floating-offshore-wind...

By Willem Post

.

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.

.

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

.

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 USING NORWAY RESERVOIR HYDRO PLANTS AS A BATTERY SYSTEM  

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.
.
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.
.
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 very angry.
.

This time the W/S lull happened again, and, just like that, the Rightist party coalition was out, because it lost a party. The leftist Labor party formed a new coalition government with a new Cabinet, which may, or may not, remedy the situation; Stoltenberg, formerly of NATO, became finance minister.

Never-the-less INSTANT DEMOCRACY.

.

Norway should have tariffs

Low tariff, on top of low wholesale price, on in-coming electricity

Very high tariff, on top of high wholesale price, on out-going electricity.

 

NOTE: I lived in Norway for 3 years.

My brother-in-law, worked at Norsk Hydro, as a managing director.  

NH provides almost all hydro power in Norway.

We talk shop. He thinks the nutcases in Oslo should be exiled to Nova Zembla.

.

Some Articles for Reference

.

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

.

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

.

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

.

Ban the Expensive, Dysfunctional Offshore Wind Turbine Fiasco

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/ban-the-dysfunctional-...

by Willem Post

.

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

.

International Trade is a Dog-Eat-Dog Business

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/international-trade-is...

By Willem Post

.

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

.

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

.

The Expensive Folly of Electric 18-Wheelers

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-expensive-folly-of...

Willem Post

.

BATTERY SYSTEM CAPITAL COSTS, OPERATING COSTS, ENERGY LOSSES, AND AGING
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/battery-system-capital...

by Willem Post

.

NEW ENGLAND ELECTRICITY 100% FROM WIND AND SOLAR by 2050?

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/new-england-electricit...

By Willem Post

.

THE DYSFUNCTIONAL STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS WITH GIANT BATTERIES

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-dysfunctional-stat...

By Willem Post

.

FLOATING OFFSHORE WINDMILLS IN IMPOVERISHED STATE OF MAINE

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/floating-offshore-wind...

By Willem Post

.

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.

.

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.

. 

$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

. 

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

.

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

.

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!

.

That would really make a difference towards fiscal sanity over the years.

.

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.

.

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

.

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

.
We have come a long way, baby, and fossil fuels made it happen.
Drill, baby, drill!

.

UKRAINE A GEO-POLITICAL PAWN OF US/UK/NATO TO WEAKEN RUSSIA

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-plot-is-thickening...

By Willem Post

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THERE ARE AT LEAST 8 PROVOCATIONS THAT LED TO THE UKRAINE- RUSSIA CONFLICT  https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/there-are-at-least-8-p...

By Willem Post

.

1) The US-led NATO expanded beyond East Germany to the borders of Russia, after on February 9, 1990, US Secretary of State James Baker reassured Gorbachev, on several occasions, NATO would not expand by "one inch" beyond East Germany. Russian leaders were duped again.

.

2) At the 2008 Bucharest summit, NATO agreed, Ukraine and Georgia would become members, but did not specify how or when this would happen. Russian objections were ignored.

.

3) The US fomented, organized, and financed the illegal Coup d'Etat in Kiev in 2014, which deposed Yanukovych, a legally elected President, and left about 100 people dead and severely wounded.

The US spent at least $5 billion from 1990 to 2014, per Victoria Nuland, to set up Ukraine NGOs, subsidize Ukraine Media, buy West-leaning politicians, to lead many parades with flags, etc., in preparation of the Color Revolution that would push Ukraine into the EU and NATO, in due time.

From 1990 - present, thousands of West European companies expanded their operations to Ukraine and other East European states, and to Russia.

The “Revolution” often became violent during 2013 and 2014, because a major part of the population, likely of Russian origin, wanted to continue the status quo.

.

4) From 2014 to February 2022, the Kiev government armed forces, UAF, with NATO arms, decided to attack, kill and severely wound about 15,000 of its own citizens in East Ukraine over an eight-year period, because those citizens, did not agree with the US-installed clique in Kiev in 2014.

Russia supported the ethnic Russians to prevent increased genocide.

The UN/EU/US/UK/NATO encouraged Ukraine by staying silent, or saying "Ukraine has a right to defend itself".

Those ethnic Russians have been living there for about 400 years

 

5) Ukraine Presidents Poroshenko and Zelensky sabotaged the Minsk Agreements, with silent approval of NATO and Merkel and Sarkozy/Hollande, the “guarantors”.

The frequent Minsk meetings by the parties were futile. Russian leaders were hoodwinked again.

The West's aim was to give Ukraine time to build its armed forces with NATO training and weapons.

Those Agreements would have given limited autonomy to East Ukraine, while remaining part of UKRAINE

.

6) In early February 2022, an army of at least 100,000 of the Ukraine Armed Forces, UAF, increased its long-distance shelling of East Ukraine by a factor of 3 to 5, likely a prelude to an assault on East Ukraine.
This was subsequently confirmed by captured Ukraine POWs.

.

7) On February 22, 2022, Russia finally said "enough is enough", and invaded Ukraine to put an end to the ethnic cleansing in East Ukraine. 

Russian troops entered Ukraine 1) with the aim of forcing Kiev to halt military attacks on East Ukraine, 2) to ensure its own security, and 3) dismantling a regime that fostered the growth of neo-Nazism in the country

.

8) During March/April, 2022, a Russia-Ukraine agreement was partially negotiated and initialed in Turkey, but PM Johnson interrupted the peace process by visiting Kiev to tell Zelensky to keep on fighting with NATO backing.

Zelensky, with no military skills, agreed to fight a war of attrition against a much larger and better-armed opponent

.

Ukraine is Slowly Disintegrating

Ukraine, which had been losing population prior to 2014, has a remaining population in Kiev-controlled areas of about 25 million, of which 10.7 million are pensioners. Ukraine could never win a war of attrition.

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/about-half-of-ukraine-...

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After 3 years of fighting, East Ukraine is in total ruins.

Russia annexed over 20% of Ukraine. Its real GDP is growing far in excess of the US and EU, despite sanctions.

Russia, with many highly educated STEM graduates, became more united, due to the war effort, and more sovereign, due to a huge increase of "Made in Russia" products and services that used to be imported from Europe.

In 2023, EU GDP growth was about zero %, US about 2.9%, Russia about 3.8%.

In 2024, EU GDP growth was about zero %, US about 2.8%, Russia about 4.1%
A major return of Western companies to Russia would “increase dependency/decrease sovereignty”, as happened after 1990.

The forces of Russo-phobia, propagated by the subsidized, government-controlled Corporate Media in the US and EU, were working overtime to keep the US/EU populations in hate-Russia mode, while falsely claiming Ukraine was "winning".

 

Ukraine Likely to Lose 4 Provinces, plus Crimea

Each side lost up to one million dead and seriously wounded.

Russia has re-joined most of 4 eastern provinces that were part of the Czarist Russian Empire for hundreds of years

Their people, almost all ethnic Russians, voted by more than 90% to rejoin Russia in 2022.

Crimea, 70% Russian, 20% Ukrainian, 10% Tartar, voted by more than 96% to rejoin Russia in 2014.

.

Future US-Russian Relations

As part of the Ukraine Peace talks, Russia and the US have decided to co-operate with each other in large-scale ventures, such as extracting rare-earth minerals from Russian soil for export to the US.

.

After the Ukraine conflict is settled, the Euro elites, after decades of tying the economy into climate-policy knots, and spouting hateful Russo-phobia to unify/rally/control/brainwash the population, will need to shift to Russo-neutral, if they want to do business with Russia, all while justifying spending much more on all sorts of NATO weapons to fight Russia, which does not attack, unless provoked.

Quite a hat trick!

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The Euro elites are using Orwellian measures, such as censorship, misinformation labeling, throwing out elections if they do not like the results, freezing out major political parties, blacklisting people, companies, social media, etc., jailing political opponents (as in Rumania), to cow/brainwash/disenfranchise the population, similar to what the USAID-subsidized US Corporate Media are still doing. 
The federal government buys tens of thousands of expensive subscriptions to subsidize those Media, as was revealed by DOGE.

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Ukraine Resists Peace, Wants to Continue Fighting with Only EU Backing

The neo-NAZI, Bandera-adoring Nationalists want to keep fighting, and get all land back from Russia, and restart the genocide of ethnic Russians in East Ukraine.

That likely would mean losing more land, more destruction, and about 25,000 killed and seriously wounded per week on both sides. That would mean 18-year-old recruits, with minimal training, to the front lines.

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That would mean NATO “boots on the ground and planes in the air”, if it were up to the UK and its “Coalition of the Willing”, with US battlefield awareness systems as a “backstop”, orchestrating it all behind the scenes. WW3, anyone?

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NOTE: Battlefield awareness, aka “backstop”, involves US satellites and US spy planes to feed battlefield information to the Ukraine Armed Forces.

Musk’s satellite-based STAR link plays a major role spreading battlefield information

Advanced artillery systems, provided by the US, UK and France, are operated by personnel of those countries, who use that information to hit targets in Russia. WW3 anyone?

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US and Ukraine officers planned major counteroffensives together and launched long-range, high-precision strikes, using Western-supplied weapons onto Crimea. The strikes led to civilian casualties, with one ATACMS attack on a Sevastopol beach killing four and injuring more than 150 in June 2024.

The US also dispatched dozens of military advisers to Ukraine, some of whom were allowed to travel close to the frontline.

In 2024, the US extended its permissions to allow Ukraine carry out limited long-range strikes using US-supplied weapons onto Russian territory. Washington provided Kiev with the targeting data for the strikes.

One European intelligence official was shocked by the level of US involvement in the conflict, telling the Times, 

“They are part of the kill chain now.”

https://www.rt.com/news/614965-nyt-investigation-us-secret-meddling...

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/key-takeaways-nyts-secret-hi...

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US VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE SPEECH IN MUNICH, FEBRUARY 14, 2025; FULL TEXT

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/us-vice-president-jd-v...

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Vance’s speech in Munich was not just another rhetorical salvo. It was a milestone in the evolution of Atlanticist thought. For decades, the US/EU alliance has operated on the assumption the Cold War never truly ended.

The central question is whether to finally put an end to it and start a new era on different terms.

The current strategy of the EU is to preserve confrontation with Russia, by means of Media-enhanced Russo-phobia, as a means of securing EU unity.

If the US steps back and prioritizes its own interests elsewhere, Brussels will have to reassess that position.