{"id":276577,"date":"2023-08-31T14:25:55","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T12:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=276577"},"modified":"2023-08-31T14:25:58","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T12:25:58","slug":"wind-energy-a-doomed-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=276577","title":{"rendered":"WIND ENERGY: A DOOMED INDUSTRY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Powerline<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Wall Street Journal<\/a> reports that the wind industry has fallen on hard times:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The wind business, viewed by governments as key to meeting climate targets and boosting electricity supplies, is facing a dangerous market squall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After months of warnings about rising prices and logistical hiccups, developers and would-be buyers of wind power are scrapping contracts, putting off projects and postponing investment decisions. The setbacks are piling up for both onshore and offshore projects, but the latter\u2019s problems are more acute.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Why might prices be rising, and supply chain issues emerging? The Journal mentions Bidenflation and rising interest rates, but the more intractable problem is supply and demand. Because of their minuscule productivity, wind turbines use extraordinary amounts of steel, concrete, copper, cobalt, zinc, and numerous rare earths<\/em><\/strong>. As governments around the world have mandated \u201cgreen\u201d energy, demand for these materials has skyrocketed. Prices are only going higher, as massive new mines for minerals like copper and cobalt will have to be developed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Europe\u2019s strong winds and shallow waters have made offshore wind one of its fastest-growing renewable technologies. But a 40% cost increase recently halted a giant project in the U.K., a global leader in offshore wind, while developers delayed two investment decisions in the Baltic Sea.<\/p>\nAnother three projects in the North Sea totaling about $19 billion in planned spending are potentially delayed or revising terms too, said Peter Lloyd-Williams, a senior analyst at Westwood Global Energy Group.<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

There have been similar cancellations and delays of offshore projects in the U.S., too. Quality problems are also adding insult to injury. Wind turbines are at best disposable power plants, lasting only 20 years or so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are also costly to maintain:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Manufacturers have been struggling with profitability as they deliver ever-larger and more advanced machines, which are more efficient at making electricity. Now some say they are running into problems with wear and tear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have problems both offshore and onshore,\u201d said Tim Proll-Gerwe, spokesman with Siemens Energy. The company, which had previously said quality issues related to its subsidiary\u2019s flagship onshore turbines could cost up to $1.1 billion to fix, on Monday raised that estimate to about $1.75 billion.<\/em>
***<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blade supplier TPI Composites, which has agreements with several wind manufacturers, issued a profit warning last month that it was seeing higher inspection and repair costs.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The struggling wind industry faces other problems that likely cannot be overcome at any cost. Robert Bryce<\/a> describes the popular revolt against \u201cgreen\u201d energy that is taking place world-wide:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

[A]ll over the world, rural people are reacting with fury at the encroachment of large wind and solar projects on their homes and neighborhoods.
***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June, thousands of Druze residents in the Golan Heights rioted to stop the installation of a large wind project on their traditional lands. Last month, Australia\u2019s largest farmers union said it wanted a moratorium on new solar projects. In May, a wind project in Colombia being pushed by the Italian company, Enel, was canceled after it met fierce opposition from the indigenous Wayuu communities.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, here in the U.S., over the last 10 days, local governments in Illinois, Ohio, and Iowa have rejected or restricted wind and solar projects. Those moves bring the total number of rejections or restrictions in the\u00a0<\/em>Renewable Rejection Database<\/a>\u00a0to 574.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Robert does a tremendous service by maintaining a database of instances where local objections and protests have successfully blocked wind and solar projects. The reality is that, no matter how loudly the federal government clamors for \u201crenewables\u201d to be built, successfully constructing them has proved to be difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this problem ultimately can\u2019t be solved. Bryce deserves credit for arguing forcefully that, notwithstanding all of the other intractable problems with low-intensity, unreliable wind and solar energy, what will finally kill those technologies is their land use requirements. In a\u00a0paper that he wrote for American Experiment<\/a>, Robert pointed out:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

[M]erely meeting America\u2019s current electricity needs with wind energy would require a territory more than two times the size of California.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And, of course, if liberals get their way and electrify everything from automobiles to stoves, the land requirements would be vastly greater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of this is going to happen. The laws of physics do not permit a developed country to power itself with \u201cgreen\u201d energy. Our attempt to do so is doomed. In his Substack piece, Bryce quotes a British physics professor:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

In 2016, shortly before his death at age 46 from cancer, David J.C. MacKay, a physics professor at the University of Cambridge, said wind turbines are \u201ca waste of money.\u201d Eight years earlier, MacKay had published Sustainable Energy \u2014 Without the Hot Air<\/em>, a remarkable book that hammered home the land-use impacts of renewables. MacKay, who recognized nuclear must be part of any effort to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions, calculated that wind energy needs about 700 times more land to produce the same amount of energy as a fracking site. In the same 2016 interview, MacKay called the idea of relying solely on renewables an \u201cappalling delusion.\u201d He continued, \u201cThere\u2019s so much delusion and I think it\u2019s so dangerous for humanity that people allow themselves to have these delusions that they\u2019re willing to not think carefully about the numbers and the realities, and the laws of physics and the realities of engineering\u2026 humanity really does need to pay attention to arithmetic, and the laws of physics.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Arithmetic? Laws of physics? They are lost on politicians, to our incalculable cost.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And, of course, if liberals get their way and electrify everything from automobiles to stoves, the land requirements would be vastly greater.
\nNone of this is going to happen. The laws of physics do not permit a developed country to power itself with \u201cgreen\u201d energy. Our attempt to do so is doomed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":276586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691822224,691822223,691821666,691820740],"class_list":{"0":"post-276577","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-bidenflation","9":"tag-rising-prices","10":"tag-wall-street-journal","11":"tag-wind-energy","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-1128.png?fit=1600%2C1071&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-19WV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":329330,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=329330","url_meta":{"origin":276577,"position":0},"title":"Trump Twirls the Windmills of Doom: The Guardian\u2019s Theatrical Take","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/17\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Ah, The Guardian, ever the beacon of balanced journalism, has outdone itself yet again. 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