Got money in wind power? Then grab it and run like the wind, only faster …

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Who would have thought, hey? That a wholly weather dependent power generation ‘system’, actually depended upon …. the weather?

In, the mother of all ironies wind power outfits in the US – well, everywhere, really – are cursing the Wind Gods, as their puffed up promised profits plummet; and investors fume.

The wind industry is little more than the most recent and elaborate effort to fleece gullible investors, in a list that dates back to “corporate investment classics”, like the South-Sea Bubble and Dutch tulip mania.In the wind industry, the scam is all about pitching bogus projected returns (based on overblown wind “forecasts”) (see our posts here and here and here and here); claiming that wind turbines will run for 25 years, without the need for so much as an…

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In recent times – with the wind industry taking a belting around the planet – its spruikers have taken to clinging to any vestige of hope, with the anxious zeal of shipwreck survivors happening upon a little fortuitous flotsam.

One such “hope”, is their belief that China provides the perfect example of what wind power outfits can do when immune from the pesky obstacles thrown up by ol’ chestnuts, like free power markets and democratic rights, say.

The line is spun that China is leading the world in the roll-out of these things; and is well on the way to a 100% wind powered future.

But, as with almost everything that the wind industry tosses up as self-justification, the facts tell a somewhat different story – in China:

20% or more of China’s wind power capacity isn’t even connected to the grid (talk about idle gestures);

grid operators aren’t…

Suzlon S88 Gearbox adopts ‘early retirement’ plan at Jamestown, SA.

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Among the grab bag of lies pedalled by wind power outfits, and especially fan makers, is that these things will run on the smell of an oily rag, without the need of so much as a shifting spanner, for more than 25 years.

The pitch is made to beguile the gullible (read, ‘planning authorities’, ‘politicians’, ‘bankers’ and ‘investors’) into believing that the costs associated with operating these things, can be readily covered out of petty cash – which fits with the other great line about there being nothing as ‘free’ as the wind.

Mechanical wear and tear, including bearing failure is one of the most common reasons for turbines to be put out of action; and is one of the key factors that accounts for the fact that the ‘economic’ life of wind turbines is 10-12 years, which runs…

Green Mythology and the High Price of European Electricity
Energy Matters
Euan Mearns
17 August 2015

The price of residential electricity in the EU is correlated with the level of renewable energy installed on a per capita basis. The data shows that more renewables leads to higher electricity bills. The notion that renewable energy is cheap is one of five Green energy myths discussed.

A few weeks ago Willis Eschenbach posting at WUWT and Jonathan Drake posting at Paul Homewood produced a chart showing a relationship between European residential electricity prices and the installed renewable energy (RE = wind + solar) per capita for a number of European countries that I have reproduced below. I thought this was one of the most interesting charts I’d seen for a while and wanted to write a post on it, but Dave Rutledge posting at Judith Curry beat me to it.

So why do…