Touchy Feeling Wind Power Scam

Search your memory. It’s not as if you have to go all that far back. Recall the most uncomfortable summer days that you’ve experienced. We had some pretty warm days just this last summer. Do you remember any refreshing breezes on those days? Of course you don’t. That’s part of what made them so oppressive. These are the days when Northwesterners rely most upon their air conditioners for relief. And these are the days when those enormous wind generators that have sprung up around the state generate the least electricity – when it is most in demand.
Such subtleties seem to have eluded the proponents of this year’s favorite feel-good initiative, I-937 in Washington. Initiative 937 would mandate that by the year 2020, Washington utilities would have to generate 15% of their electricity using new, approved renewable resources. I say approved because the primary renewable energy in the northwest, hydropower is not approved. The initiative states that only hydropower that does not require “diversions or impoundments” is allowed. Which is a rather convoluted way of stating that hydropower is, in fact, not permitted. Neither are faster breeder nuclear reactors. Biodiesel and other biomass energy sources are so restricted that they don’t qualify and some, including the most cost effective are expressly forbidden.
In fact, just about the only renewable energy that the initiative allows is wind generators. Existing energy sources, regardless of whether they are renewable, clean, or abundant, don’t count.
Curiously, even wind power might not satisfy the tortured language of this initiative, as it requires that the renewable energy source be, “cost effective” and, "reliable and available within the time it is needed," and that the "estimated incremental system cost no greater than that of the least-cost similarly reliable and available alternative project or resource."
Huh?
During this last summer, California discovered that, during the hottest weather, when electricity was most in demand, its wind generators produced only one-sixth of their average output. And so wind power would probably fail the initiative’s requirement that this magical source of power be “reliable and available within the time it is needed.”
Today, 95% of Seattle’s electricity is derived from non-CO2 producing sources, nuclear and hydroelectric. Nevertheless, to comply with I-937, Seattle City Light would have to replace much of that with expensive and unreliable wind power. In addition, because wind power is so unreliable, Seattle City Light may have to invest twice – once for the windmills and again for a reliable backup for those days when the wind doesn’t blow. Wind generators are already just about the most expensive means of power generation. Forcing their construction would also force utilities to build expensive backup power generators to serve when demand is high and zephyrs are absent.
It is really difficult to imagine that there has ever been a more poorly thought out initiative on a ballot. But nevertheless, this being the land of granolas and greenies, I would not be at all surprised if it passed. After all, just think of how good we can feel about ourselves if we mandate that clean, reliable and renewable energy just magically appear and make all those naughty greenhouse gases go away.
The touchy-feeling, warm and fuzzy goal of this initiative is to reduce Washington’s contribution to global warming. It will certainly achieve that, although only as an unintended consequence. Certainly Washington will produce less greenhouse gas if it has fewer people producing anything. I-937 will force jobs and businesses out of the state. One of the few things that make Washington attractive to business is its reliable and relatively inexpensive energy. I-937 would cure Washington of that advantage. Electricity generated by wind turbines is much more expensive than other sources. We only have wind turbines now because the government subsidizes their construction and the power they generate. If wind turbines had to stand on their own in the marketplace, they would never have come into existence. Forcing utilities to employ the most expensive and unreliable electricity source will force power bills up dramatically. And all those companies that have set up shop in Washington to take advantage of its electricity prices will fold up their tents and move elsewhere.
Seattle coffee shops are packed with simpletons who swoon over this sort of thoughtless nonsense. Let’s hope that enough Eastsiders have the brains to see through it.