And this is why we still need thermal generating capacity

[raginduck]

Forum Sponsor

Kind of timely.

Wind Energy Is About to Change Everything (Here's What's Coming) - Ontario Energy News

Wind turbines stretching 300 meters into the sky—taller than the Eiffel Tower—will soon harvest energy from powerful offshore winds that current technology cannot reach. These next-generation installations represent just one breakthrough transforming wind energy from a supplementary power source...

www.ontarioenergyreport.ca

cite?

The courts disagree

just driving thru the areas that have the turbines.. the opposition is obvious… North of shelbourne.. grey county area, all you’ll see for miles is turbines.. and protest signs. Rich dudes are buying up thousands of acres of farms.. just to keep them away from their homes.. out of their area. People are building ‘little houses’ at the corners of their land.. to prevent their neighbours from putting in the turbines, etc…
It’s alway an uphill battle in courts when challenging things like that… how long did it take before cigarettes were deemed a hazard and companies held accountable?how many cases were tossed along the way for lack of medical evidence? What about polluters.. Teflon.. how long did that take? How many cases were tossed along the way?
Fracking.. same thing.
etc, etc, etc…

 

[ReSTored]

At some point down the road wind turbine contracts, usually 20 years long, will need to be renegotiated and some contracts (or many, who knows) will not be renewed or may be renewed on financial terms not favorable to the owner.

Contracts stipulate that the owner is responsible for removal of the turbine and decommisioning of the site. However, I understand that funds for this are not in escrow, but would be provided by the owner at the time of decommissioning.

All good for an owner who is solvent ongoing, but if they go bankrupt then the property owner is stuck with a massive facility and disposal bill to deal with at some point in time. Wind turbines and their masts have a finite life and at some point they are going to collapse if not dismantled and removed.

Don't know, but expect that many wind farms are likely set up as separate corporations so that in the event of contract non-renewal or bankruptcy that the owner just walks away from the mess and others will have to pay to clean it up.

 

[GreyGhost]

Don't know, but expect that many wind farms are likely set up as separate corporations so that in the event of contract non-renewal or bankruptcy that the owner just walks away from the mess and others will have to pay to clean it up.

Every one I have seen the details for is setup exactly like that. Eg. Grey County West Phase 1 Wind Inc. Grey County West Phase 2 Wind Inc, Grey County East Phase 1 Wind Inc. etc etc. A handful of turbines that turn public money into private profits and any corp can be easily mothballed. If they wanted to improve optics, it is simple to make a corp insolvent by moving money around (for instance high license fees payable to a different company or a balloon payment due at the end of the 20 year contract to nuke any remaining equity). That way they can argue they aren't walking away from their obligation, they are bankrupt as the government doesn't support green energy properly.

The only reason we have so many turbines is McGuinty and Wynnebag set a crazy high 20 year rate. They argued that domestic content would make canada a world leader in turbine manufacturing. Sound familiar? As soon as the minimum required quantity was built, factories were mothballed and all staff was laid off.

Eyeball average driving through Grey County yesterday had ~20% of turbines offline on a breezy day.

As for green, take a look at the bloodbath around the turbines as birds get smashed out of the sky. They are flying straight into clear skies, they aren't expecting a huge bat to hit them in the side at over 100 km/h.

Forum Sponsor