Tag Archives for subsidies
Coal projected to be US’ top generating fuel in 2017: EIA
Houston (Platts)– Coal is projected to provide the majority of US power generation in 2017, retaking the crown from natural gas, according to the US Energy Information Administration’s monthly Short Term Energy Outlook released Tuesday. The agency projects coal will fuel 31.3% of the US’ electricity in 2017 compared with 31.1% for gas.
In 2016, gas surpassed coal as the nation’s primary fuel for the first time, totaling 33.8% of generation compared with 30.4% for coal. The agency has projected gas to be the top fuel in 2017 in most of their reports so far this year, including June’s edition, but increasing gas prices as well as higher hydro generation have pushed gas below coal for the first time.
Cheney bill on federal coal leasing goes before House
Heather Richards
Star Tribune
WASHINGTON – Wyoming’s coal industry has rebounded from the dire circumstances of a year ago, when its three largest companies were in bankruptcy and stockpiles of coal still sat idle at power plants and mine sites across the country.
Those companies have since restructured, wiping away billions in debt in the process. And the overstock of coal has largely burned down.
Wyoming companies, energy experts and environmentalists agree that a new normal has set in for coal in Wyoming, where companies are operating at lower costs and producing less coal with fewer miners. It is a time for tightening belts and operating efficiently, not expanding.
Development Groups: More Coal Plants will not end Energy Poverty
By Joshua Learn
S&P Global Intelligence (October 2016)
Coal-fired generation is not the answer for fighting energy poverty, according to a new position paper from international development organizations.
The paper, “Beyond Coal,” released by the Overseas Development Institute and a consortium of other international groups focused on fighting poverty, among other things, disputed claims by the fossil fuel industry that coal should play a central role in efforts to eliminate extreme poverty and improve access to energy for billions of people in developing countries.
The social costs of renewable energy
An interesting study was recently published by University of California Davis researcher, Katherine Ingram that questions the impact of the wind industry on bats, and by extension, the agriculture industry. As one email headline linking to a Daily Caller article on this issue noted, wind energy means less bats and more mosquitos.
A new study by University of California Davis researcher Katherine Ingram claims that bats add $3.7 billion to the U.S. agriculture industry through pest control. As it turns out, eating moths, mosquitos and other bugs make bats a big money saver for farmers, especially organic growers, looking to cut down on pesticide use. …
“I’m scared to death for our country”
Roberty Murray, Chairman and CEO of Murray Energy took part in a eye-opening interview on Neil Cavuto’s show on Fox Business.
He didn’t hold back for a second, saying that the impending EPA regulations were a “total and dangerous takeover” of the nation’s electricity system. He charged that the current administration’s actions were “illegal” and “unachievable.” He further argued that EPA regulations were “destroying” low cost electricity, American markets and our nation’s competitive position. He stated clearly that he was “scared to death for our country.”
“Sustainable and subsidy-free”
Honestly people, it would be difficult to make this stuff up. (I realize that this story is about a month old, but it definitely has staying power.)
Andrew Cuomo (Source: Wikipedia – picture by Pat Arnow)
In an April 24 news release the office of New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, attempted to hype a $1 billion subsidy to “expand deployment of solar capacity” across the state.
Offshore UK wind farms increasingly expensive and unreliable
A December 2013 Telegraph article describes the growing costs and rapid drop offs in generation capacity being experienced at offshore wind farms in the UK
… due to wear and tear on their mechanisms and blades, the amount of electricity they generate very dramatically falls over the years; so that a turbine that initially produces on average at 25 per cent of its “capacity” can degrade over 15 years to produce less than 5 per cent. With offshore turbines, the effects of weather and salt corrosion are so damaging that output falls from 45 per cent to barely 12 per cent.
Time for wind to stand or fall on its own
I’ve made this same argument hundreds of times before.
I’ve talked with investors while speaking at conferences who told me they invest in renewable projects because they know that, with the lavish subsidies heaped on renewable energy, they can’t lose money at the start of a new project. Of course they added that, once the payment comes in, they bolt and pull their investment as quickly as possible.
They said that if and when the subsidies dry up and the project has to stand or fall on its own economic merits, they will lose their shirts.
$2.6B offshore wind park “needs subsidies to be economic”
This Bloomberg Business reporter doesn’t appear to recognize that she is openly disparaging the London Array Project, and renewable energy in general, as incapable of competing without billions of pounds in subsidies.
As she gushes over the development of the London Array Project, listing various statistics about how many homes it will power, the companies that are involved, etc., she openly admits (at about 45 seconds in) that the wind farm would not have been built without these handouts from European governments (read: taxpayers).
Her exact words were,
Regulation: The high cost of low value wind
Regulation magazine recently published an interesting article on the high costs and market disruptions associated with long-term subsidies to the renewable energy sector. An NCPA review of the Regulation Mag article notes,
Subsidies for renewable energy distort markets and are economically inefficient, driving out legitimate competitors and leading to higher prices in the long run. Despite the evidence that shows the negative effects of renewable energy, there are still those that make an argument for it, says Jonathan A. Lesser, founder and president of Continental Economics Inc. …
