Offshore wind is the renewable-energy industry’s shiny new toy. Led by New York, seven Atlantic-coast states have now imposed mandates to expand offshore wind use over the next decade, with the Empire State last week soliciting bids for an additional 2,500 megawatts of offshore power, on top of the 1,700 megawatts procured previously.
Advocates claim offshore wind will contribute to a low-carbon future, spur an economic renaissance and create thousands of jobs. Don’t buy it. The mandates are yet another boondoggle that will benefit a well-connected few, saddling everyone else with even higher power costs.
Consider Rhode Island’s 30-megawatt, six-turbine offshore wind project located off Block Island and operated by Deepwater Wind. A decade ago, Rhode Island’s public utility commission rejected the project, concluding that the sky-high prices it would charge the local electric utility would adversely affect consumers. Yet the Rhode Island legislature ignored consumer interests and forced the commission to approve a 20-year contract.
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Again.
ReplyDeleteEyesore.
Too expensive.
Disposal of the blades.
Tell me again how great and cost effective they are??
Rickie - you reading this? Article IS from the NYPOST.
ReplyDeleteEver heard the sayings:
- if it walks like a duck....
- if its too good to be true....
- biting off more than one can chew...
- it costings US arms and legs....
Its almost like these Wind Companies present the Eastern shore one helleva Trojan Horse and everyone accepted this gift. Only to find out its gonna cost more for less and those who made these decisions will be nowhere to be found in the future.
Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time someone would come up with an idea and then try to bring it to market. Win or lose based on usefulness in eyes of the public.
Windmills are not a new idea but juicing them up on this scale is more recent. Expensive to build, costly to maintain. We only have to look as far as Crisfield and Wye Mills to see that the economic argument for them just isn't there. The abandoned windmills in the North Sea are a cautionary tale.
The impetus for plopping them in the ocean is that our goofy (being kind) legislature mandated that power companies buy a certain amount of their electricity from 'renewable' generators. So these opportunists have a captive market for whatever energy they can generate from the wind, and at whatever cost it takes to generate. The public will be forced to eat the costs of wind power in their bills.
My take on this is: Let the developers get real skin in the game. Take away the guarantee and make them produce energy that is cost-competitive with other source. And, major point, make them post a bond sufficient to dismantle and dispose of their windmill if it craps out.
The bloom will be off that rose if actual market conditions govern as opposed to pie in the sky.
Absolutely!!!
Delete