We Cannot Afford “Free” Wind and Solar Energy
While driving the mostly empty and flat 1,000 miles from Houston to Colorado Springs recently, I noticed something I hadn’t seen much just a few years ago — lots of wind farms dotting the landscape, but none anywhere near even small population centers. Ever see a fossil fuel or nuclear generation plant in the middle of nowhere? And another funny thing, though: Invariably, many of the turbines weren’t moving and one of the largest appeared to have about 100 turbines, yet I counted just three in action.
Something is wrong with this picture. Having paid for the land, the turbines, and those long transmission lines don’t providers want a maximum of the machines going?
Nope. Because, you see, wind farms – and solar farms for the same reasons – don’t make their money by generating electricity. They do it by generating government subsidies.
Having just finished writing an article in the biomedical journal Inference, in which I surprised even myself by finding that wind and solar have no purpose other than lining the pockets of fat cat rent seekers, this was no shocker. But no purpose, really? Yes, really.
Perhaps America’s greatest investor in these technologies is Berkshire Hathaway guru Warren Buffett, who has already sunk at least $15 billion into them with “another $15 billion ready to go.” At a meeting a couple of years ago he admitted “on wind energy, we get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. That’s the only reason to build them. They don’t make sense without the tax credit.” (Studies consistently show solar farms make even less sense.)
If President Obama gets his way with his “Green Power Plan” tailored by the rent-seeking lobbyists who quickly joined his administration and infiltrated the EPA and Department of Energy (DOE), we can expect those subsidies to soar. (Its implementation is currently on hold after a Supreme Court decision.)
Ah, but haven’t solar and wind generation prices plummeted to where they’re finally competitive? That’s what you’ll read in 90 percent of articles on the subject. All of which get their data from that infiltrated Obama DOE. And truly prices have dropped.
But not because of any scientific advances as we’ve been led to believe. For solar generation the decline essentially came from switching from panels sold at cost in the U.S. and Europe to buying heavily subsidized ones from China and Taiwan. Under the threat of trade sanctions, these countries have now stopped their “dumping” and now solar prices are heading back up. As to wind, increased efficiencies were realized by building larger turbines. But metallic stress factors put a physical limit on those.
In fact, ultimately physics dooms both wind and solar. Sure, the “fuel” for both is “free.” But that’s also true of sailing ships. How many merchant and warships are sail-powered? Problem is it takes a lot of “canvas” to catch that “free energy” because both wind and solar energy are 1) variable, and 2) intermittent.
In other words, a fossil fuel or nuclear plant can steadily pump out energy day or night, independent of climate or weather. And “capacity factor” for nuclear plants has steadily increased so now they’re operating at close to peak efficiency all the time. But turbines only turn when the wind blows, and if it blows too hard they have to be governed or shut down to prevent damage. Solar panels are useless at night and in some places useless all winter. None of Canada, Scandinavia, and northern Germany by rights should have solar farms. Yet they all do.
How much “canvass” is needed? The Westinghouse AP1000 WPR small modular reactor — the only type currently being installed in the U.S. – requires five acres of land. The company calculates that to generate the same amount of energy “average solar” would require 2,400 acres while “average wind” would need 60,000. That’s 500 and 12,000 times the land mass respectively.
That makes them cost prohibitive for built-up areas – where customers are. Imagine the cost of 12,000 acres near New York City, which also happens to have relatively low amounts of wind and sun and therefore needs far more than that average.
This leads to yet another problem with wind and solar that virtually nobody discusses, even opponents – the cost of transmission from where land is cheap and sun or wind is plentiful to where customers are. Yet by the time you figure in land costs, transmission line costs, right-of-way expenses, and the inevitable “bleeding” of power that increases with every mile of cable – this can double the expense of delivered energy. But when I said everyone ignores this, it includes the primary source for cost comparisons – Obama’s DOE.
Ah, but it gets even worse. Naturally, prime areas are getting snatched up first. This is what economists call “the low-hanging fruit.” As U.S. wind and solar providers move beyond the paltry seven percent of electricity they now deliver, they’ll have to reach farther and farther to get any fruit. We can expect delivered prices to increase.
And ya know what? That’s just fine for providers. Because as Buffet admitted, the money is in the subsidies. For that 7 percent of electricity, wind and solar grab a stunning 64 percent of federal subsidies. It comes out to over $10 billion or about $80 per U.S. federal taxpayer annually. Beyond federal support, personal tax credits related to solar products are available in 20 states; 18 states have corporate tax credits or deduction programs, and 14 states offer taxpayer-funded grants to support solar electricity. Now toss in local subsidies.
Solar’s take per amount of energy supplied is much larger than wind’s. Why? Because solar is that much more inefficient!
The Wikipedia entry on solar energy in Canada states that since a form of subsidy called a feed-in-tariff” went into force in 2009 Ontario became “a global leader for solar energy projects.” Right, but before no. With enough subsidies, energy from burning pork fat could become a major electricity contributor.
If solar and wind were indeed catching up to other forms of electricity generation, they wouldn’t need current subsidies, much less ever-growing ones. Such are the incredible costs of producing energy with “free fuel.”
Michael Fumento is an attorney, author, and journalist, former reporter for Investor’s Business Daily, and writes regularly for Forbes.com.
Trending Now on Affluent Christian Investor
Are You A Kingdom Worker?
Wealth Equality = Stealing
Who Can We Blame For The Great Recession?
Nude is Natural: Should Clothing be Optional?
AD or ADD: 2019 Years From What?
Gramsci’s Plan to Overwhelm Christianity With Socialism Using Culture
Last Quarter Markets Got De-FAANGed
Sermon On The Mount vs. Sermon On The Plain: Different Messages For Different Economies
King David on The Suffering Leader
Michael Novak Anticipated ObamaCare Thirty Years Ago
Two Years Of Global Cooling But Cuomo Attacks Energy Anyway
The Ebola Epidemic Is Dying
Fascism Is Socialism: Here’s The Proof
An Interview With Jordan Peterson
Tim Keller Is Wrong: Helping The Poor Is Voluntary Compassion, Not Legally Required Justice
One Year Later And The Trump Tax Cut Boom Seems To Be Petering Out
What Number Will Signal When the Dollar is About to Plunge to Zero Value?
The Affluent Mix
Two Years Of Global Cooling But Cuomo Attacks Energy Anyway... February 4, 2019 | Frank Vernuccio

Wealth Equality = Stealing February 4, 2019 | Jim Huntzinger

What Christian Leaders Usually Fail To Understand About Economics... February 4, 2019 | Roger McKinney

Last Quarter Markets Got De-FAANGed February 4, 2019 | Jerry Bowyer

Warnings From A Past Pope And A President About Socialism... January 25, 2019 | Jim Huntzinger

Parliament Brexit Rejection Is Continuation Of Elites Rejecting Popular Opinion... January 25, 2019 | Frank Vernuccio

More Tuckerism: ‘Conservative’ Journal Blames Markets For Social Ills... January 25, 2019 | Roger McKinney

One Year Later And The Trump Tax Cut Boom Seems To Be Petering Out... January 25, 2019 | Jerry Bowyer

No, NY Times, A Government Shutdown Won’t Shrink Economic Growth... January 17, 2019 | John Tamny

Tucker Carlson Serves Up Warmed Over Socialism... January 17, 2019 | Roger McKinney

Media Ignores Socialism As Reason For Venezuelan Crisis... January 17, 2019 | Frank Vernuccio

Brazil’s New President Embraces Israel (Literally) And Is World’s Best Perfo... January 17, 2019 | Charles Bowyer

Who Says States Can Nullify Federal Overreach? Madison And Jefferson... January 17, 2019 | Jim Huntzinger

Why Big Funds Overlook Places Like Columbus And Why They Shouldn’t... January 17, 2019 | Jerry Bowyer

AD or ADD: 2019 Years From What? January 4, 2019 | Jerry Bowyer

Why Christmas Won Over Greek Philosophy January 4, 2019 | Vishal Mangalwadi

Madison’s Attack On Government Suppression Of Dissent Is Still Relevant Today... January 4, 2019 | Jim Huntzinger

Stop Blaming Memphis’s Sad Present On Its Tragic Past... January 4, 2019 | John Tamny

No, Washington Post, The Virgin Mary Was Not A Socialist!... December 28, 2018 | Jerry Bowyer

Debunking The Myth That Blacks Need To Be Surrounded By Whites To Succeed... December 28, 2018 | Roger McKinney

Baby, It’s Cold Outside… For Free Speech... December 28, 2018 | Frank Vernuccio

The Economic Philosophy Of The Virgin Mary... December 21, 2018 | Jerry Bowyer

Join the conversation!
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, vulgarity, profanity, all caps, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a courteous and useful public environment where we can engage in reasonable discourse.