High Electricity Cost From Wind and Solar

Some European countries, particularly Germany and Denmark, have invested heavily in electricity generation from solar and wind sources with the result that the cost of electricity has increased substantially. ¹ Wind energy is 'free' but countries with the most wind power are also the most likely to get to the top of the Prize Pool for exorbitant electricity prizes. It's not even close. South Australian households pay the highest power prices in the world at 47.13 cents per kilowatt hour, more than Germany, Denmark, and Italy, countries also noted for high 'free' wind energy concentration reports Joanne Nova. The US pays 15.75 cents per kilowatt hour. ²

Yet the drumbeat for a fossil fuel free energy utopia continues. But few have pondered how we will supposedly generate 25 billion megawatts of total current global electricity demand using just renewable energy. For example, with wind turbines we're talking about some 830 million gigantic 500 foot tall turbines requiring a land area of some 12.5 billion acres. That's more than twice the size of North America, all the way through Central America notes Paul Driessen. ³ Solar and wind present two problems. One is low power density; massive areas have to be devoted to power generation. The other, more serious problem is intermittency. If we only wanted to run electrical appliances when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining, fine, but don't expect to use solar to turn on your lights at night. So solar and wind cannot manage on their own; it's always solar or wind and something else. Generating more electricity from solar and wind is just a very expensive exercise in political correctness that will have little impact on carbon dioxide emissions, but a big impact on your wallet says Jonathan DuHamel. ¹ John Droz adds; One pitch is that our adaption of wind energy will help us break our fossil fuel dependence. Guess what! The reality is that wind actually guarantees our perpertual dependence on fossil fuels! In addition to wind turbines' dependence on fossil fuels for manufacture, delivery and maintenance, the only way wind energy can quasi-function on the grid is to have it continuously augmented by a fast responding power source—which for a variety of technical and economic reasons is usually gas. Wind advocates get away with this scam primarily for three basic reasons.

1. Wind proponents are not asked to independently prove the merits of their claims before (or after) their product is forced on the public.
2. There is no penalty for making bogus assertions or dishonest claims about their products benefits, so each successive contention is more grandiose than the last.
3. Promoting wind is a political agenda that is divorced from real science. ⁴

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Issues With Solar

Joanne Nova reports; Solar panels on Australian rooftops cost electricity customers $500 million last year, and are projected to cost a staggering $1.3 billion this year. We could have put that billion into a new hospital. Instead we put magic squares on our houses, hoping to get nice weather. Solar subsidies must end. This will be $160 total per household, just for solar subsidies this year alone. ⁵ Last year one of Australia's largest coal power plants suddenly closed, with only five months warning, catching the market by surprise and taking 5% of the country's cheapest electricity generation. A year from the closure of the 1600 megawatt-sized plant, wholesale prices of electricity were up 85 percent. ⁶

Offshore Wind

An offshore wind farm in Rhode Island cost $150,000 for every household powered. Three miles off the coast of Block Island, R.I., the wind farm is currently generating enough electricity to power 2,000 homes, but building the five turbines cost $300 million. That's roughly $150,000 per household just to build the turbines, not to operate them. ⁷ To put this in some perspective, the US's newest nuclear reactor, Watts Bar Unit 2, cost $4.7 billion to build but powered 4.5 million homes. That's only about $1,044 per household. This means powering a home with the Block Island wind farm is almost 144 times more expensive than powering a home with the newest US nuclear reactor.

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Despite the extremely high cost, federal officials want to power 23 million homes with offshore wind by the year 2050. Offshore wind is so pricey that early investors, like Germany, plan to stop building new turbines to lower the cost of electricity. Electricity is so comparatively cheap in most parts of the US that offshore wind isn't generally necessary. ⁷ Cape Wind, a proposed $2.5 billion wind farm off Cape Cod Massachusetts, is no longer a viable project. Two New England electric utility companies have ended their contracts to buy its power and the state Energy Facilities Siting Board has declined to extend permits for the project. ⁸ Cape Wind is dead, but several states are still planning to build offshore wind farms at considerable costs to the consumer. With offshore wind costs 2.5 times higher than onshore wind costs, the economics do not favor their development. References

1. Jonathan DuHamel, “The high cost of electricity from wind and solar generation,” wryheat.wordpress.com, March 12, 2018
2. Joanne Nova, “Australia, Denmark, Germany vie to win highest global electricity cost. It's the Nobel Price Prize,” joannenova.com, August 17, 2017
3. Paul Driessen, “Life in a fossil-fuel utopia,” Townhall, August 12, 2017
4. John Droz Jr., “Twenty-one bad things about wind energy and three reasons why,” masterresource.org, March 22, 2018
5. Joanne Nova, “Bill shock debacle: solar rooftop subsidies in Australia doubling, will cost $1.3 billion this year, $160 per household,” joannenova.com, March 13, 2018
6. Joanne Nova, “Surprise: Australia closed a cheap coal generator and electricity got 85% more expensive,” joannenova.com, March 29, 2018
7. Andrew Follett, “Offshore wind farm costs $150,000 per home currently powered,” cfact.org, May 3, 2017
8. “Expensive wind farm calls it quits,” Institute for Energy Research, Canada Free Press, December 20, 2017