A Free-Market Energy Blog

Vineyard Wind: Catastrophic Failure (‘sharp fiberglass shards’ close Nantucket beaches)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 18, 2024

“The Biden Administration’s offshore wind ambition, not only Vineyard Wind, is going the way of the EV debacle. It is time to end the charade, even before the Presidential election.”

All the current political news is keeping this week’s implosion of the fledgling U.S. offshore wind industry off the front pages. “Vineyard Wind shut down after turbine failure sends ‘sharp fiberglass shards’ onto Nantucket beaches,” reported CBS News out of Boston. The worst case event could spell the end of another Biden anti-economic, anti-ecology “climate” program, with only the 132 MW South Fork Wind project off the coast of Long Island under construction.

Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, was at the 10-turbine, 136 MW mark of a planned 62 turbines totaling 806 MW. GE Wind (formerly Enron Wind), the blade-maker, is in trouble too.…

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The Government-Imposed Cost of Electricity in Texas

By -- July 17, 2024

“Government increased the cost of Texas electricity by $20 Billion in 2023.”

On July 1, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced that they “will seek to expand the [Texas Energy Fund] to $10 billion to build more new [generation] plants as soon as possible.” The Texas Legislature, with voter approval, created the Fund last year with initial funding of $5 billion.

Subsidizing multi-billion dollar generators and electric utilities using Texans’ money is nothing new in Texas. Figure 1 shows that in 2023 the U.S. government, Texas’ state government, and Texas local governments increased the cost of electricity in the Texas area served by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) by $19.9 billion, most of it by providing subsidies and benefits to generators and transmission companies. This represented 42.7% of the total cost of electricity to Texans in ERCOT.…

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GOP Energy Platform (“Make America the Dominant Energy Producer in the World, by Far”)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 16, 2024

“Republicans will increase Energy Production across the board, streamline permitting, and end market-distorting restrictions on Oil, Natural Gas, and Coal.”

In the approximately 5,000-word platform of the Republican Party, some 400 (8 percent) explicitly deals with energy. All of the statements (below) are pro-consumer, pro-taxpayer, pro-economy, and pro-environment.

Nary a mention of the tired, half-century alarm of a ‘climate crisis’. No mention of forced energy transformation to dilute, intermittent, land-intensive wind and solar. No mention, logically, of a new energy tax domestically or at the international border. Free and open markets are strongly implied.

MAKE AMERICA THE DOMINANT ENERGY PRODUCER IN THE WORLD, BY FAR!”

“Unleash American Energy. Under President Trump, the U.S. became the Number One Producer of Oil and Natural Gas in the World — and we will soon be again by lifting restrictions on American Energy Production and terminating the Socialist Green New Deal.…

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Vogtle 5? Big Nuclear Looks to Big Government

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 15, 2024
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Industrial Wind Power: Infant Industry Not

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 12, 2024
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U.S. Urban Air Pollution Trends: Fossil Fuel Ecology

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 11, 2024
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A Permanent Subsidy? Nuclear Power’s Price-Anderson Act (5 Extensions, 89 years)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 10, 2024
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New US-EU Methane Rules Won’t Affect Temperatures

By Steve Goreham -- July 9, 2024
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Energy & Environmental Review: July 8, 2024

By -- July 8, 2024
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Independence Day: Driving, Grilling, Fireworks

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- July 3, 2024
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