“… global commodity price increases … sharp and sudden increases in interest rates, prolonged supply chain constraints, and persistent inflation have significantly increased the expected cost of constructing the project.”
Electricity rates are going up because of wind, solar, and batteries being forced upon, and duplicating, the grid. Reliability is going down because of wind and solar intermittency. And higher interest rates are (further) ruining the economics of the infrastructure-heavy, up-front capital necessary to turn “free” wind and solar into electricity.
It’s a perfect storm that might just overcome the taxpayer largesse of the federal subsidies (DOE and IRS) and rate averaging for captive ratepayers. With offshore wind experimental and extra-uneconomic, the worst can be assumed.
An October 30, 2022, article by Colin Young, “Major Massachusetts offshore wind project no longer viable,” explains the fluid situation.…
“A renowned environmental activist has a stern warning for politicians and global leaders if they fail to act on climate change. ‘There are going to be pipelines blowing up if our leaders don’t pay attention to what’s going on,’ David Suzuki told CHEK News on Saturday without elaborating further.”
A scary fellow is in the news. “David Suzuki is retiring from The Nature of Things to focus on activism and calling out ‘BS'”, the headline states. “86-year-old TV host fears environmental movement has failed, but he won’t give up.”
That is about the nicest way to describe this Canadian Paul Ehrlich. “After 44 years of hosting CBC’s The Nature of Things,” Jaela Bernstien of CBC News reports:
…David Suzuki’s tenure will be coming to an end. While the upcoming season will be his last, that doesn’t necessarily mean the public will see or hear less from the iconic — and sometimes controversial — Canadian environmentalist.”
“Thank you Doug Sheridan. Thank you Alex Epstein. Thank you Robert Bryce. Thank you David Siegel. And many others…. The great middle is coming your way on the polarized energy/climate issue.”
Doug Sheridan, an energy consultant with EnergyPoint Research in Houston, has tens of thousands of followers on LinkedIn. He is an energy realist and speaks truth to power on energy and climate in a scholarly tone. And his message is resonating well in the mineral energy sector and beyond.
I was struck by his recent post describing the growing recognition of the vital role of mineral energies (vs. dilute, intermittent, infrastructure-heavy, government-dependent wind and solar). Sheridan piggybacks on an article by the U.S. reporter for the Financial Times, Derek Brower.
Sheridan’s post follows:
Derek Brower writes in the FT, pro-oil voices are suddenly bolder, swatting aside environmentalists for having the gall to worry about the climate during a global energy crisis.…