Big Wind Is A Disaster

Britain is a world leader in wind with a subsidized program to take advantage of the windiest conditions in Europe. But its program continues to fail. Figures released in early January showed that as temperatures plunged to well below freezing and electric power demand soared, electricity production at Britain's 3,100 wind turbines fell from an average of 8.6 percent of Britain's electricity mix to just 1.8 percent. On the evening of Dec. 20, Britain's average temperature fell to minus 5.6 Celsius. At 6:30 that evening, Britain's wind farms, which have a generating capacity of 5,200 MW of electricity, were actually generating 40 MW. Hmmm. 40 MW divided by 5200 MW gives you a capacity factor of.... roughly 0.008, or 8 tenths of 1 per cent! Is this the future of energy that US President Obama is boasting about? Sad indeed. The wind industry is imploding, and the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) is providing the details. Suffice it to say that there will be no Jay Leno at the next AWEA confab.

With accumulating layoffs, extending the Production Tax Credit (PTC) is increasingly becoming too late. AWEA has been warming about 10,000 job losses by September 1, and now the number is 37,000 in the next seven or so months.

Wind companies are wising up to the fact that consumers don't like their product" ResourceMore details on massive wind industry layoffs at link above.

When politicians from Germany to the UK to the US to Japan continue to double down on stupid, there is likely to be a connecting thread of stupidity behind their stupid decisions. The connecting thread in this case is the global faux environmental movement, along with pseudo-scientific carbon hysteria and climate alarmism.

Politicians have hysterically pursued big wind and big solar -- despite the ruinous economic implications -- out of a crusader's zeal for "green" energy and "green" jobs. Unfortunately, what we are seeing is green ruin across the board.

And as penetration of big wind into the power grid generation ensenble continues to increase -- displacing more reliable and less expensive forms of energy -- we are beginning to see the destabilising effects of big wind on critical power grids.

Most politicians probably never worked an honest day in their lives. Corrupt to the core, depleting the public purse and oppressing the private sector, these top level parasites are lining their own nests and those of their families and supporters. And to hell with everyone else.