Monhegan Island Offshore Wind: New DOE Should Decline $40 Million Subsidy

By Jim Lutz -- March 14, 2017 4 Comments

“A consortium of grant seekers, organized under the name ‘Aqua Ventus,’ vies for $40 million in Department of Energy grants to build a demonstration wind project within three miles of Monhegan Island. They do so under the higher moral purpose of saving the planet, but that is simply to camouflage what is but a callous quest for ‘free’ government money, taxpayers and ratepayers be damned.”

Will the new, improved US Department of Energy (DOE) just-say-no to a massively uneconomic proposed wind project offshore?

I call your attention to a situation in Maine which I believe is a poster child for how the forgotten American is being robbed and disrespected by the renewable-energy special interests and their coterie of shills. The issue is this: DOE is presently considering grants of $40 million for a project which would never exist absent tax-and-spend government largesse to this point.…

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Wind Energy and Aviation Safety (Part V)

By -- March 2, 2017 3 Comments

“Wind turbines and associated MET towers are encroaching on aviation air space, and safety concerns are growing worldwide.”

Editor’s note: This is the fifth (of six) in a series examining opportunities of the Trump Administration to correct harmful wind energy-related policies.

Last month, a single engine plane collided with a wind turbine in Germany killing the pilot and shattering the aircraft. The appalling tragedy was reported as a rare occurrence, but few realize that in the U.S. alone at least ten people have lost their lives in fatal aviation accidents involving collisions with U.S. sited wind turbines and meteorological (MET) towers.

The table below lists these accidents, six in all.

U.S. Fatal Aviation Accidents
Involving Wind Power

Date Location Fatality Activity Information
Dec 15, 2003 Vansycle, OR Yes, 2 Transport (MET) NTSB Accident ID SEA04LA027
May 19, 2005 Ralls, TX Yes, 1 Ag Spray
(MET)
NTSB Accident ID DFW05LA126 
Jan 10, 2011 Oakley, CA Yes, 1 Ag Spray (MET) NTSB Accident ID WPR11LA094 
Aug 5, 2013 Balko, OK Yes, 1 Ag Spray (MET) NTSB Accident ID CEN13FA465 
Apr 27, 2014 Highmore, SD Yes, 4 Transport (Turbine) NTSB Accident ID CEN14FA224
Aug 19, 2016 Ruthton, MN Yes, 1 Ag Spray (MET) NTSB Accident ID CEN16LA326


Wind and Collisions

The most well-known incident occurred the night of April 27, 2014, just ten miles south of the airport in Highmore, South Dakota.…

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US Offshore Wind: Tax Machines Offset Bad Economics

By -- February 28, 2017 1 Comment

“While the ITC option eliminates the uncertainty of performance, it is also consistent with the view of Warren Buffett, considered one of the outstanding investors of all-time. He has said, ‘[O]n wind energy, we get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms.  That’s the only reason to build them. They don’t make sense without the tax credit.’”

“Responding to his critics about the economics of Deepwater Wind, CEO Jeffrey Grybowski said: ‘We’re building clean energy for the next generation here. And I think there are always small-minded opponents who like to find conspiracies.’ But I doubt most Rhode Islanders consider themselves either ‘small-minded’ or conspiracy-theorists.”

America’s renewable energy industry recently opened a new chapter with the official startup of the Block Island Wind Farm located 3.8 miles off the coast of Block Island in Rhode Island state waters.…

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DOE: Breaking the Federal Arm of the Wind Industry (Part IV)

By -- February 23, 2017 18 Comments

[Editor Note: This essay, the fourth in a series aimed at correcting the most harmful wind energy-related policies of the Obama era, examines how the U.S. Department of Energy has set aside its scientific objectivity and, instead, has assumed the role of chief advocate for wind power in the federal government.]

Since 2008, the US Department of Energy (DOE) has touted the technical feasibility of using wind energy to meet 20 percent of the nation’s electricity demand by 2030. In 2015, the agency refined its plan with the release of its Wind Vision, which further qualified the opportunity and laid the groundwork for the US to achieve 10 percent wind power by 2020, 20 percent wind power by 2030, and 35 percent wind power by 2050.

DOE and the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) insist that the industry is on track to meet these goals, but even a casual look at DOE’s claims makes clear that the reports are more advocacy than reality.…

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Big Wind: Threat to Air Navigation, Military Assets (Part III)

By -- February 16, 2017 3 Comments Continue Reading

Wind PTC: End the 4-Year Development Window (IRS guidance reversible) [Part II]

By -- February 10, 2017 2 Comments Continue Reading

The Secret, Silent Wind-Power Peril (Part III: Fighting Back)

By Helen Schwiesow Parker -- February 9, 2017 6 Comments Continue Reading

The Secret, Silent Wind-Power Peril (Part II: Nina Pierpont and ‘Wind Turbine Syndrome’)

By Helen Schwiesow Parker -- February 8, 2017 7 Comments Continue Reading

The Secret, Silent Wind Power Peril (Part I: The General Problem)

By Helen Schwiesow Parker -- February 7, 2017 58 Comments Continue Reading

U.S. Wind Energy Policy: Correcting the Abuse in 100 Days (Part I)

By -- February 2, 2017 13 Comments Continue Reading