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Wind Power News: Editorials
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
California state government makes energy more expensive with clean energy bill
Assembly Bill 1373, the latest clean energy legislation out of Sacramento, is likely to raise electricity bills so much that even the legislative staff reviewing the bill for the Senate Appropriations Committee expressed concerns about it. “The State of California is an electricity customer, purchasing roughly one percent of the state’s electricity. As such, the state incurs costs when rates increase. To the extent this bill results in increased electricity rates, there could be additional costs on the state as . . . Complete story »
Eye-opening report by NOAA on fisheries and offshore wind
Offshore wind-energy installations—“wind farms”—are expanding along the East Coast of the United States as a way to increase the use of renewable energy, but these installations are not without their own significant impacts on marine resources and their associated fisheries. They have innocuous-sounding names such as Revolution Wind, Sunrise Wind, Mayflower Wind Phase 1 and Park City Wind. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is the federal agency responsible for offshore-energy exploration and development in the US. To date, BOEM . . . Complete story »
Desastre ecológico sin precedentes por el descontrol sobre las renovables en España: entidades científicas y conservacionistas estiman que anualmente los parques eólicos están acabando con la vida de entre 2 y 4 millones de aves y murciélagos
[Unprecedented ecological disaster in Spain: Scientific and conservation entities estimate that wind farms are killing 2-4 million birds and bats annually] La Fundación para la Conservación del Quebrantahuesos (FCQ) constata que tan solo las cifras oficiales, que únicamente analizan el problema a nivel parcial, muestran que casi 9.000 aves han muerto a nivel estatal tras el impacto con las turbinas eólicas en los últimos tres años. «La biodiversidad retrocede más en los territorios con mayor despliegue de complejos eólicos. Existen . . . Complete story »
A costly, but necessary wind farm decision
It seems like far too much money, but it’s smart business for the Town of Ocean City to work with a consultant to review offshore wind farm plans as they materialize. The Ocean City Mayor and Council was unified this week in approving a $175,000 contract with SLR International, an England-based consulting firm that will review specifically US Wind’s construction and operations plan (COP). Ocean City’s needs to utilize the consultant’s expertise because it truly will not have the knowledge . . . Complete story »
Green or greenwashing? It doesn’t matter as long as growth is sacrosanct
Having decided that moving away from fossil fuels is the right thing to do, we’re moving in that direction. Probably not quickly enough to make a difference, but such is the course we’ve set. Our new destination – an electric future – may not be an improvement. Certainly, there’s an expectation that the likes of electric vehicles will eliminate emissions at the tail pipe – EVs don’t have tailpipes. And we may even reduce overall emissions of greenhouse gases, but . . . Complete story »
The real price of wind and solar
First pay for renewables. Then pay again to pick up all the slack. A billion here, a billion there, and soon you’re talking about real costs from politicians’ headlong rush toward net zero carbon emissions. United Kingdom households received a reminder of this truth recently with the latest data on how renewables drive up their energy bills. The British electric-grid operator spent £4.2 billion in 2022 balancing supply and demand on the network, a record amount. This works out to . . . Complete story »
We are researching Lava Ridge Wind Project to form an opinion. Are you?
The Lava Ridge Wind Project would change the landscape of south-central Idaho. Arguably, forever. This isn’t us embellishing the facts, or speaking in hyperbole. It would be the reality of blasting into the Earth to stand up as many as 400 wind turbines across up to 114 square miles between Twin Falls and Shoshone that would, in many cases, be taller than even the Space Needle that serves as the centerpiece of the Seattle skyline. The gigantic, mostly steel structures . . . Complete story »
The spinning of Virginia’s wind farm
Now that their climate spending bill has been signed by President Biden, Democrats might go to bed dreaming of wind farms. What they’re sleeping through is the green logrolling and corporatism already evident in the clean-power transition. A good example is an offshore wind farm that Virginia regulators approved recently under obvious duress. Dominion Energy plans to build 176 wind turbines 27 miles off the coast of Virginia Beach. That’s enough to power about 660,000 homes. The capital cost is . . . Complete story »
Editorial: We must have a say in offshore wind-energy plans
Few dispute the need to develop alternative ways to generate electricity that don’t produce greenhouse gases, but our local response to a proposed floating offshore wind farm isn’t a straightforward “yes.” Similar complications arise regarding floating wind turbines off the southern Oregon coast. These prompted the Astoria City Council and the Port of Astoria Commission to recently ask the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Oregon Department of Energy to take their time before granting permission. Clatsop County . . . Complete story »
Let’s call it what it is
For those of us who dwell in the city, it’s easy to say, ‘bring on the wind power.’ When you’ve got 150-foot towers bringing 4,000 megawatts of electricity by your house, some reluctance is bound to bubble to the surface. You have to feel for those property owners who find themselves in the path of the Grain Belt Express transmission line. These aren’t NIMBYs or people who automatically oppose green energy. Most of them live close to nature and have . . . Complete story »
