{"id":339302,"date":"2024-08-12T07:57:52","date_gmt":"2024-08-12T05:57:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=339302"},"modified":"2024-08-12T07:57:55","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T05:57:55","slug":"the-zero-emissions-grid-demonstration-project-follies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=339302","title":{"rendered":"The Zero Emissions Grid Demonstration Project Follies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

From The Manhattan Contrarian<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Francis Menton<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I claim credit for being the first person to demand a demonstration project to show how a zero emissions electrical grid is supposed to work, before trying to build such a thing for our entire population of three hundred million as involuntary guinea pigs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How could it be that lots of others haven\u2019t been demanding this for years? It\u2019s like everyone has lost their minds. Before climate hysteria set in, the idea of attempting an engineering project as enormous as a zero emissions electrical grid for the United States, or even for one state, without first having a functioning demonstration project, would have been completely unthinkable. But under the powerful sway of the fear of climate armageddon, the need for a demonstration project to prove feasibility never seems to occur to anybody. And thus trillions of dollars are getting spent \u2014 wasted \u2014 on facilities that anyone with a brain can easily see will never come close to providing a zero emissions grid \u2014 although building these facilities will greatly drive up the cost of electricity to consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let me then welcome an important new voice to the still tiny chorus of those demanding a demonstration project. The new voice is Congresswoman Harriet Hageman of Wyoming. (Ms. Hageman is the woman who took out the former Wyoming Congresswoman, Liz Cheney, in a primary in 2022.). Here is a picture of Ms. Hageman from her website:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Ms. Hageman went public with her demand at a town hall held this past Tuesday, August 6, in Jackson, Wyoming. She proposed that the ultra-liberal town of Boulder, Colorado, step up as the potential guinea pig. Wyoming-based news source WyoFile had the story on August 7, with the headline \u201cHageman proposes a Boulder, Colorado, fossil-fuel-free experiment.\u201d<\/a> Excerpt:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Hageman] proposed a pilot project that would strip Boulder, Colorado, a progressive enclave, of its fossil fuel infrastructure \u2014 all to be replaced with windmills and solar panels on the city\u2019s open space. \u201cThe pilot project is, you take out all their gas stations,\u201d she said to a crowd of about 70 people in the Teton County Library. \u201cWe take away all their internal combustion engines \u2014 cars. We take away all of their highways and streets, because that\u2019s all oil-and-gas-produced.\u201d . . . \u201cThey\u2019ve been a no-growth city for decades,\u201d Hageman said, \u201cso they have a lot of open space around them. We fill out open space with windmills and solar panels, and we\u2019ll see if we can actually run a city of 100,000 people [with] no fossil fuels whatsoever.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to WyoFile, Hageman\u2019s remarks drew a response of \u201capplause and laughter\u201d<\/em> from the supportive crowd in Jackson. However, the WyoFile reporter took the proposal to a City Councilman in Boulder named Mark Wallach, and asked for comment. Wallach was not amused. Here is Wallach\u2019s reaction:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the things that makes people so leery of politics and politicians is when people make ridiculous suggestions like that,\u201d [Wallach] said in a telephone interview with WyoFile. \u201cNobody on the Boulder Council suggested we can do without all the fossil fuels at this point,\u201d he said. \u201cWe make efforts to do better \u2014 to recognize that climate change is real and we do things we can do to combat it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, Mark, what am I missing? If the good people of Boulder are demanding that the whole country be force-marched to a zero emissions future, why shouldn\u2019t they be willing to step up themselves and show that the goal is feasible to achieve? A simple zero-emissions-grid demonstration project is all that it will take.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, if I might make a suggestion to Ms. Hageman, there is no need to be punitive about this. The claim of the green energy advocates is that electricity from wind and sun are cheaper than electricity from hydrocarbon fuels, and that electric cars and electric heat will be cheaper and better than the cars and heat we have now. So there is no need to forcibly take away the cars and the gas stations. Just have them build the magical zero-emissions grid and, if they can do it, they will have plenty of electricity to power everything, and the gas-powered cars and gas stations will rapidly fade away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is that it is not going to be possible to build a zero-emissions grid. However, the people of Boulder clearly think that it is going to be possible, and I am perfectly willing to be proved wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But my confidence that I am right only increases with time. The closest thing that the world has to an attempted demonstration project of a zero emissions grid continues to fail spectacularly. That would be the Gorona del Viento project on El Hierro Island in Spain\u2019s Canary Islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have written about the El Hierro project many times, and will not go into the full background here. Suffice it to say that El Hierro was absolutely intended to be a demonstration of a zero emissions grid. A facility of five large wind turbines and a massive pumped-storage hydro backup facility (Gorona del Viento) was built and opened in 2014. The website of Gorona del Viento continues to proclaim on its opening page<\/a>: \u201cAn island 100% renewable energy.\u201d<\/em> <\/strong>Hah!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s an island of about 10,000 people. Average electricity demand is 4-5 MW, and peak demand is about 7.5 MW. Roger Andrews did an independent analysis of the project<\/a> for the Energy Matters website back in 2017. They built wind turbines with nameplate capacity of 11.5 MW on a mountainside in the trade-winds zone \u2014 about the most favorable wind conditions in the world. The hydro storage facility has a capacity of some 270 MWh, which is about 54 – 68 hours of average usage. (By contrast, New York governor Kathy Hochul has a big storage initiative to spend about $10 billion to build one<\/em> hour of storage.). Doesn\u2019t it sound like El Hierro has what they need to make this work?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the latest statistics from Gorona del Viento<\/a>, for the full year 2023. The percent of electricity for the island supplied by the wind\/storage system for the full year was 35%. The other 65% came from the backup diesel generator. The best month for the wind\/storage system was July, when it supplied 62% of the island\u2019s electricity. But then there was October, when it only supplied 10%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How could they be failing so completely with so much excess generation capacity and a huge storage facility that no one in the world can duplicate? You\u2019ll have to ask them. I\u2019m just reporting the statistics they put out themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the best that anyone in the world can do, at least so far. Boulder: it\u2019s up to you to show how this can be done!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

I claim credit for being the first person to demand a demonstration project to show how a zero emissions electrical grid is supposed to work, before trying to build such a thing for our entire population of three hundred million as involuntary guinea pigs.<\/p>\n

How could it be that lots of others haven\u2019t been demanding this for years? It\u2019s like everyone has lost their minds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":339307,"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":[691830097,691830096,691818154,691830095],"class_list":{"0":"post-339302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-boulder-colorado","9":"tag-congresswoman-harriet-hageman-of-wyoming","10":"tag-net-zero","11":"tag-zero-emissions-grid","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/0170811Blackout.jpg?fit=2048%2C1365&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1qgC","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":340031,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=340031","url_meta":{"origin":339302,"position":0},"title":"Debate: Is A Demonstration Project Really Necessary?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"19\/08\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"My repeated calls for a Demonstration Project of a zero-emissions electrical grid have led to a spirited debate among knowledgeable commenters. While most back my position, some say that a Demonstration Project is really not necessary and would be a waste of effort.","rel":"","context":"In \"Demonstration Project\"","block_context":{"text":"Demonstration Project","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=demonstration-project"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/026Negativepower-superJumbo.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/026Negativepower-superJumbo.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/026Negativepower-superJumbo.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/026Negativepower-superJumbo.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/026Negativepower-superJumbo.webp?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":339800,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=339800","url_meta":{"origin":339302,"position":1},"title":"Zero Emissions Grid Demonstration Project Follies: No Fraudulent Demonstration Projects Allowed!","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"16\/08\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Even as I regularly repeat my calls for a Zero Emissions Grid Demonstration Project, I\u2019m ready for the next move in the back and forth. Suppose someone claims that a steady zero emissions electricity supply has been achieved? How can we determine and verify whether that is true? The facts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"El Hierro Island\"","block_context":{"text":"El Hierro Island","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=el-hierro-island"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/0el-hierro-invaso_2400x1160.jpg?fit=1200%2C580&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/0el-hierro-invaso_2400x1160.jpg?fit=1200%2C580&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/0el-hierro-invaso_2400x1160.jpg?fit=1200%2C580&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/0el-hierro-invaso_2400x1160.jpg?fit=1200%2C580&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/0el-hierro-invaso_2400x1160.jpg?fit=1200%2C580&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":336540,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=336540","url_meta":{"origin":339302,"position":2},"title":"New York City Local Law 97 \u2013 Don\u2019t Do It","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"15\/07\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I have the pleasure to announce the availability of a new report prepared for New York Co-op and Condo Boards and Trade Associations regarding New York City Local Law 97 mandated conversion to electric heat. 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The proposed system\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"El Hierro Island\"","block_context":{"text":"El Hierro Island","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=el-hierro-island"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0PHOTO-ArcVera-Renewable-energy-India-Wind-Solar-and-Storage.jpg?fit=1200%2C511&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0PHOTO-ArcVera-Renewable-energy-India-Wind-Solar-and-Storage.jpg?fit=1200%2C511&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0PHOTO-ArcVera-Renewable-energy-India-Wind-Solar-and-Storage.jpg?fit=1200%2C511&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0PHOTO-ArcVera-Renewable-energy-India-Wind-Solar-and-Storage.jpg?fit=1200%2C511&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/0PHOTO-ArcVera-Renewable-energy-India-Wind-Solar-and-Storage.jpg?fit=1200%2C511&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":278907,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=278907","url_meta":{"origin":339302,"position":4},"title":"New York Urgently Needs To Confront the Contradiction of Trying To Electrify Everything While Also Eliminating Fossil Fuels","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"15\/09\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"In New York, politicians are selling the public a narrative that electricity is going to be the solution to climate change. 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