Andrew Stuttaford of National Review Online explores the latest bad news for advocates of wind power.
Say what you will about wind turbines, the steampunk wing of our glorious renewable future, their most dramatic failures have an epic quality about them — the toppling, the crumpling, the buckling, the bits and pieces flying through the air. …
… A month ago, a blade fell from a GE Vernova turbine off the US East Coast, with shards washing ashore on the island of Nantucket, closing beaches. Public outrage has added to the problems already facing the industry as rising interest rates and supply-chain woes plague projects. …
… Meanwhile, Gordn Hughes, writing in the Wall Street Journal, asks why New York will be paying so much for the wind-powered electricity generated by two large wind farms, Empire Wind 1 and Sunrise Wind, off the coast of Long Island:
The projects are expected to begin in 2026 and 2027, with power delivered to Brooklyn (Empire) and Long Island (Sunrise). The state will pay $155 and $146 per megawatt-hour, respectively. These prices are steep, at least four times the average grid cost paid over the past year. New Yorkers should be asking why.
States agree to pay wind-power operators—known as the “offtake price”—based on a project’s “break-even cost,” the estimated bill for building and operating the wind farm over its useful life. That is undoubtedly part of the problem. …
… Hughes looks at two estimates showing widely divergent estimates of the break-even cost for these projects. The relevant number is the number after factoring in tax credits. “Every offshore wind farm,” he writes, “expects to take advantage of investment or production tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act.”
Thank you, taxpayers! …
… The good news is that they will be a less reliable source of supply than that which preceded them.
That’s not good news?
Oh yes, Equinor and Orsted will each receive a $3 billion subsidy from taxpayers.
