The much touted benefits of wind come with a fatal caveat: industrial wind turbines–suffering from intermittency, low average-usage factors, remote siting, relatively high (and all-up-front) costs–are uneconomic. So the fact that the Wind industry creates jobs and can piggyback on consumer-chosen, taxpayer-neutral, baseload power is no consolation.

The starting point of economics is that wants exceed resources. Market prices are therefore needed to allocate resources. Out of a wide range of technical possibilities (including wind-produced electricity), only a small subset is economic desirable as well. Think of a bullet train from Los Angeles to New York City–technically possible but uneconomic when compared to air travel. Only freely acting consumers in a government-neutral marketplace can decide the difference.

The new study cosponsored by the American Wind Energy Association, Electricity Markets, Reliability, and the Evolving U.S.…

“Catastrophic failure with wind turbines is not new, and it’s not rare…. Recent experience shows that not much has changed in the ensuing years.”

“Those of us who follow the wind debate closely have repeatedly witnessed cases where projects were permitted despite an obvious lack of meaningful evidence on a host of topics….  The recent Maryland [Dan’s Mountain } decision provides an important precedent that other states can and should now follow.

[Editor Note: A new feature at MasterResource will periodically review important wind-related news in the US and around the world. For proponents of fuel-neutral, let-the-market-decide energy policy, as well as those opposing industrial wind turbines for environmental reasons, the news is increasingly positive. It should be highlighted and shared to motivate grassroots energy activists. MasterResource is indebted to Lisa Linowes for authoring this new series.]…

“With the Department of Energy and the American Wind Energy Association regularly crowing that wind is cost-competitive with (or more competitive than) conventional generation sources, there is no justification for further subsidies. The wind training wheels have been on the bike since 1992. They have done their job and it is now time to remove them.”

As winter approaches, Congress is being overrun by wind industry lobbyists (again). Their annual year-end money dance has become routine as we have seen the 1992 energy production tax credit die more deaths than the proverbial nine-lived cat.

Just as routinely, we have become accustomed to picking up the newspaper on New Year’s Day to read that in the cold, dark holiday night, Congress has revived the production tax credit (again).

Over time, Congress has supported throwing additional taxpayer money at the expired or expiring production tax credit, often at the eleventh hour.…

“What about the more than 50% of Nebraska’s severe weather that occurs at night and with no regard for holidays and weekends? Does anyone expect NextEra employees to make up for the loss in radar resolution from the company’s wind power facilities?”

Since 2009, two Nebraska communities have been destroyed by tornadoes, the most recent in June, 2014 (in Pilger). Articles covering these disasters can be found here and here.

Needless to say, accurate weather forecasting is essential for protecting life and property. But what happens when wind turbines are placed too close to a NEXRAD [1] weather radar? We may know soon enough.

NextERA’s Cottonwood wind project (113.6 MW) proposes to site all of its 52 turbines within 2½ to 7 miles of the Blue Hill, Nebraska NEXRAD facility.…