A Free-Market Energy Blog

Grid Wind Power: More Pre-history (1979 DOE bust)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 14, 2023

“I was in Boone, North Carolina, from 1977 through May 1983 at Appalachian State and, trust me, we got many laughs out of this windmill. Especially how it generated one MW of reliable electricity and, somehow, did so without the blades ever turning.”   – Victor Culpepper

On social media, environmental scientist Victor Culpepper remarked (above) about an early wind project with reference to an article, Ill-Fated Windmill Just Outside Boone (July 11, 2016). A previous MasterResource post recounted the 1940–45 Grandpa’s Knob grid wind power project in Vermont; the article below from North Carolina’s Department of Natural and Cultural Resources summarizes a 1979 wind project.

On July 11, 1979, Boone celebrated “Windmill Day” with a street festival to dedicate NASA’s Mod-1, the world’s largest megawatt industrial windmill on Howard’s Knob.

The windmill was installed on the 4,400-foot peak as part of a program run by NASA and the U.S.

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Energy Emergency Alert! ERCOT’s Close Call of September 6 (Part 2)

By -- September 13, 2023

“The predictable but inevitable intermittency of renewable energy had created a grid emergency that would not exist on a grid that operated without renewables…. natural gas peaker plants would have handled the load at peak demand, the riskiest time for a normally functioning grid.”

“Governor Greg Abbot should declare an energy emergency and call the Texas Legislature into special session and keep them there until they eliminate all Texas subsidies for renewable energy and force renewable generators to pay for the costs they have imposed on Texas consumers.”

As many renewable advocates like to point out, solar often provides good performance during periods of high temperature. Leaving aside for the moment the performance of solar compared to installed capacity, at 5 p.m. solar came close to its expected output of 12,636 MW.…

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Energy Emergency Alert! ERCOT’s Close Call of September 6 (Part I)

By -- September 12, 2023

Editor Note: This study by the Energy Alliance of the Texas Business Coalition is in two parts, with Part II tomorrow. MasterResource appreciates the opportunity for publication.

“Where only a few years ago modern natural gas peaker plants would have been called on to meet peak demand at 5:55 pm on September 6, unreliable solar generation is now filling much of that role.”

“The Texas grid almost failed because $29 billion of federal, state, and local subsidies over the last 18 years have left Texans relying on renewable energy sources that cannot generate electricity when it is most needed.”

When the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the operator of most of the Texas electric grid, declared an Energy Emergency Alert 2 on September 6 for the first time since Winter Storm Uri, it exposed how renewable energy and renewable energy subsidies are rapidly undermining the reliability of the Texas electric grid.…

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Energy and Environmental Review: September 11, 2023

By -- September 11, 2023
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Why CO2 is Not a Pollutant

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 8, 2023
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Wounded Texas from Wind and Solar (backdoor recognition at the Houston Chronicle)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 7, 2023
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U.S. Grid Wind Power: Free Market Failure (1940-45)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 6, 2023
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Carbon Language in Global Error

By Steve Goreham -- September 5, 2023
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Happy Labor Not Day!

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- September 1, 2023
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A Compliment Indeed! Countering Climate Alarmism

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 31, 2023
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