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Offshore U.S. Wind: Childish Energy Policy

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- November 7, 2023

“The Biden administration’s preposterous plan to establish 30,000 megawatts of nameplate Offshore Wind capacity by 2030 was always a pipedream. It’s what you get when you put the children in charge.” ( – Joseph Toomey, below)

Talented amateurs are often better than the ‘professionals’ when it comes to dissecting U.S. energy policy. Or maybe I have it reversed. The pros are those in the trenches and the amateurs are the ones on high.

So let’s call Joseph Toomey, independent management consultant, an expert. Here is his recent post about the much-in-the-news problems of the offshore wind industry under Biden Energy Policy.

Not long ago, this thread reiterated a resolute, long-standing belief that Offshore Wind is neither practical nor affordable, even in high-tax Democrat-governed Blue States of the U.S. Northeast and Middle Atlantic regions.…

Giberson: Mandatory Open Access (ISO/RTO) is “a very regulated market” (!)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- November 2, 2023

“It’s a very regulated market, so I wouldn’t call the current state a ‘free market’ in any pure sense.” ( – Michael Giberson, R Street, October 27, 2023)

The understatement of the year, political economy-wise? I’ll take it, just as I did with Lynne Kiesling’s belated acknowledgement that the “knowledge problem” applied to ISOs/RTOs (yesterday’s post).

Is the Kiesling/Giberson obfuscation of today’s centrally planned wholesale market (and a government monopoly to boot) coming to an end? For more than a year, I have begged both Lynne and Michael on social media to simply define what is a free market in electricity–and compare that to the present governmental system.

“I will not dance to your tune,” Lynne answered once in the heat of battle, reversing her no-response, disengagement strategy. And now Giberson, almost as an aside, has put a trump card on the table.…

Kiesling: ISOs/RTOs Suffer from “The Knowledge Problem”(!)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- November 1, 2023

“… the knowledge problem and governance problems are intertwined.” (Kiesling, October 20. 2023)

Those eight words from an electricity technocrat dressed in classical liberal garb represent a major concession regarding the (governmental) centrally planned wholesale electricity markets, known as ISOs (Independent System Operators) and RTOs (Regional Transmission Organizations).

Before, Keisling only acknowledged governance. “Where the RTOs should have done better IMO is in governance, which is quite flawed but flawed differently in each RTO…”, to which I responded:

One question you have refused to answer: apply the knowledge problem to ISOs/RTOs. Can you do that for us all at substack? And not only Hayek–bring in Don Lavoie’s analysis on noncomprehensive planning, and the Austrian view of competition.

And now she has answered in part. It is not easy dealing with an assumption-making academic who seems to be hiding something from her classical liberal friends and sponsors.…

“Energy Choices and Market Decision Making”: A 30-year Retrospective

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 31, 2023

Windpower Noise vs. Farmers and Livestock: The View from Australia (Queensland)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 26, 2023

Fred Pearce on Margaret Thatcher: Misdirection at “Yale Environment 360”

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 25, 2023

“The Techno-Optimist Manifesto” (Marc Andreessen in the energy debate)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 20, 2023

“Buffer of Stability” (Beware price and allocation controls)

By Robert Bradley Jr. --

Ayn Rand on Energy Disruption (Arab Embargo Turns 50)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 18, 2023

Net Zero Not! Protest from the UK Grassroots

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- October 16, 2023