UK Has A Bad Case Of Dunkelflaute
From an article in Electroverse.info
WIND POWER BELOW 1%
The UK’s obsession with wind and solar is crippling its economy, driving up energy costs while delivering no environmental benefits.
This week’s collapse in wind power generation underscores the folly of relying on something as fickle as the weather for a critical resource: electricity. Output tanked to less than 1% of the country’s supply due to an atmospheric lull—a “dunkelflaute”—and it exposed the UK’s energy policy as disastrously short-sighted.
The UK’s 12,000 wind turbines, touted as the backbone of a green revolution, were producing a pathetic 200 megawatts at their lowest point—less than 2% of their capacity. Winter demand in the UK is around 50GW.
During this week’s calm spell, Britain was forced to import over 10% of its electricity from neighbors like France and Norway via undersea cables. Meanwhile, the aging and out-of-favor gas-fired power stations, which still shoulder the lion’s share of energy production, had to scramble to meet demand. The cost was astronomical. One gas plant was offered an obscene £745 per megawatt hour, compared to the usual £100—a spike that will inevitably hit consumers’ wallets.
The Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal plant could have helped by adding 2GW to the grid, but it closed last year as a symbolic gesture to cut greenhouse gas emissions — another potentially catastrophic misstep.
Britain’s grid managed to limp through this latest crisis, but the strain was palpable and the extra cost eye-watering.
Proponents of wind and solar energy sold their vision on the promise of sustainability, reliability, and affordability. So far, they’ve delivered none of these. The UK’s economy is failing with the burden of skyrocketing energy costs, households are bracing for even higher bills, and the climate isn’t noticeably any better: Arctic Blasts, heatwaves, floods, and droughts are all still occurring?!
The winds are about to pick up with the arrival of Storm Éowyn. The only trouble is, they’re going to blow a little too much. As is proving a regular occurrence, British taxpayers will be paying for wind turbines to be shut down due to strong winds.
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Maine as Third World Country:
CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power
Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.
Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
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(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/
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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law
Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future
"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."
https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/
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