quote:
I’m absolutely aware our infrastructure is in an awful state. I’m helping merely point out that money is being invested in the wrong areas. If massive amounts of capital are going to wind projects instead of building out transmission or new baseload power generation, it is a massive waste.

Different buckets B, different buckets. The power companies have one god, the bottom line/shareholder value. One is federal dollars, one is companies not giving a shite and letting a sleeping dog lie while paying out shareholders. I've worked for both. I did major line rebuilds for the utility in CO and I've built wind farms. I know this world better than most.

quote:
Wind and solar having low energy density requires them to be built out in open spaces requiring many acres of land

What land are you referring to, the land out in the middle of nowhere that maybe has a farmer who can plow right up to the 5' beauty ring at the base of a turbine? Or is otherwise not being used at all, for anything? Of course they're not in cities. They minimize losses by having a collector substation and a short gen-tie to a step-up POI. It's not hard.

1 ...

Report Post

Posted by bapple

Capital City

Member since Oct 2010

11924 posts

Posted on 5/1/24 at 2:14 pm to PikesPeak

quote:
Different buckets B, different buckets.

Different buckets even if massive tax dollars are being spent on dilute energy sources? I’ll admit my ignorance on the money side of it.

A study by Goering & Rozencwajg (natural resource investors) showed that no time in history has a society ever successfully shifted to a more dilute energy source. It has always moved the direction of more dense energy sources and all signs point eventually to nuclear. Wasting time on wind and solar (largely with Chinese manufacturing and mineral processing) weakens us while strengthening our adversaries and creates our own dependence on them. Here’s a link to the study.

LINK

quote:
What land are you referring to, the land out in the middle of nowhere that maybe has a farmer who can plow right up to the 5' beauty ring at the base of a turbine

Robert Bryce is keeping a database on this and the list is growing:

LINK

The problem is going to be that the wind turbines and solar panels have lower lifespans than the manufacturer suggests. And a lot of the companies have gone belly-up (especially solar lately) so who is responsible for removing all the infrastructure from their properties? They also significantly affect property values because no one wants the sight or noise pollution of the windmills.

It’s not as simple as a farmer takes a cut and that’s it. This also ignores the maintenance and mineral intensity of the windmills. There really isn’t anything green about them, especially considering they are made with coal power in China.

quote:
They minimize losses by having a collector substation and a short gen-tie to a step-up POI. It's not hard.

With the cost of cables increasing along with everything else, this is a bigger deal than you’re making it out to be. Power distribution transformers are also insanely long lead right now and hardly any are made in the US. You also fail to mention the additional expense of the DC-AC conversion and capacitor banks compared to a rotating power generator that makes its own VARs. And all these expenses fall back on the ratepayers.

Good discussion.