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Despite Trump, renewable power pushing out coal

Windmills in the California desert. (Photo: Patrick Jennings)

 

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8 responses to “Despite Trump, renewable power pushing out coal”

  1. San Bernardino Nick says:

    Funny, but no one is talking about”renewables” driving the cost of electricity 50% higher in California than the national average. As the costs continue to climb, and subsidies for renewables decline, so will renewable projects. Coal isn’t going anywhere now that Obama’s poorly thought regulations are being tossed.

    • Irascible Professor says:

      Coal is dead. It has been eclipsed by the declining costs of natural gas and renewables.

      • San Bernardino Nick says:

        Actually, since so-called “renewables” are driving up the cost of electricity everywhere they are mandated, and coal is comparatively cheap and in international demand, it is renewables that are a financial dead end. Ultimately, without massive subsidies, government mandates, and failing electrical systems like California’s, coal will ultimately rebound. And you don’t have the Obama Administration to back up California’s fantasies. You want to see a nation enslaved by high cost “renewables?” Just look at Germany’s skyrocketing energy costs (and increased reliance on coal) LOL.

        • Corn_Scoop says:

          Germany’s transition to a clean and renewable energy economy does come at a cost, but the German people support the transition:

          https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/polls-reveal-citizens-support-energiewende

          • San Bernardino Nick says:

            The fallacy is that Germany is burning more coal now as renewable energy is off-peak and intermittent. Go figure.

          • JamesWimberley says:

            That’s simply untrue. German coal burn for electricity declined slightly last year , and is not increasing. What is true is that the coal decline is slow and the base level high.

            The technically competent German grid operators make no complaints about integrating high levels of renewables. German consumers enjoy a supply ten times as reliable on the SAIDI metric (about 10 minutes of unplanned outages a year) as those in in the USA.

            German industry gets electricity rates comparable to US ones. German householders are stiffed, through high taxes and grid charges, and now a surcharge that compensates utilities for the low wholesale prices often created by cheap renewables – effectively a cross-subsidy to industry. The householders don’t complain because they use little electricity – houses are heated by gas and don’t have a/c. The high prices are just not that big a deal.

          • San Bernardino Nick says:

            Lol. ” Hi electricity prices aren’t a big deal?”. Thank you for proving my point. Renewables aren’t cheap either. They are heavily subsidized to achieve any modicum of affordability, intermittent which means unreliable and always requiring fossil fuel backup, and that means coal in Germany.

            The fantasy of renewable affordability that you folks continually have to prop up is hillarious. Everywhere renewable generation .is increased, prices also increase dramatically. It is an unavoidable result of costly, inefficient, intermittent renewable energy.

  2. Joan Lagerman says:

    No one ever thinks about the amount of energy that Wind Turbines Suck off the grid when the wind doesn’t blow or when the temperature is low and the blades need to be heated to prevent icing. It’s a closely guarded industry secret. Trump’s team need’s to take those numbers into account too. Wind Turbines are useless. I live in a field of 88 Vesta V-82’s Without the subsidy’s these turbines wouldn’t be here. The amount of time that they sit idle is unbelievable!

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