A Free-Market Energy Blog

U.S. Offshore Wind: The Struggle Continues

By Kennedy Maize -- August 21, 2024

This post updates the financial troubles of Denmark’s Ørsted, recent BOEM auctions, and pushback against Maryland governor Wes Moore. Today, operational offshore wind capacity is less than 50 megawatts versus the Biden-Harris Administration goal of 30,000 MW by 2030.

Ørsted

Denmark’s Ørsted, the worldwide leading offshore wind developer, recorded a $575 million loss in the second quarter. In part, the loss is the result of disappointing developments in the U.S.

The company has delayed commercial operation of its 704-MW Revolution Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut from 2025 to 2026. Ørsted’s ambitious U.S. offshore wind program has been lagging, despite solid support (subsidies, permits) from the Biden administration.

A year after an Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) auction for Gulf of Mexico leases failed to attract significant interest, BOEM continues to delay another attempt to find adequate bidders off the east coast.…

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TAPS Attack: Biden Administration vs. Alaska

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 20, 2024

“It is now time for DOI and BLM to prove their worth, and whether they are truly working in the public interest, or merely pandering to the Lower-48 radical environmental elite … trying to shut down the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) … [and] Alaska.” ( – U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan, below)

Termite aspirations. That term from Ayn Rand toward the enemies of modern living and human betterment is applicable to many energy issues today. One of the most recent examples regards the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, which since 1977 has been transporting crude oil from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez (800 miles) for tanker shipment to markets. Today, TAPS averages about 450,000 barrels of crude oil per day, accounting for 3.5 percent of U.S. production.

Petition to Close

This June, these environmental groups filed a legal petition to the U.S.…

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Energy & Environmental Review: August 19, 2024

By -- August 19, 2024

Ed. Note: This post excerpts energy and climate material from the Media Balance Newsletter, a free fortnightly published by physicist John Droz Jr., founder of the Alliance for Wise Energy Decisions. The complete Newsletter for this post can be found here.

Greed Energy Economics:
*** “Green” Hydrogen Subsidies are 1,900x Larger Than What’s Given to Nuclear

Unreliables (General):
*** Coming Clean on Clean Energy: It’s a Dirty Business
(Alex Epstein) Summer Talking Points: Unreliable Power
Wholesale prices surge as wind and solar output falls to zero in South Australia

Wind Energy — Offshore:
*** Report: Offshore Wind Turbines May Kill You
Vineyard Wind turbine debris makes it to Cape Cod
Floating Offshore Wind – A Financial Catastrophe
Feds must rethink authorizing harassment of whales by offshore wind

Wind Energy — Other:
*** Taking the Wind Out of Climate Change (referencing 60± studies)
*** Report: Clearing the Air — Honest Truths About Clean Energy
Wind project shelved after landholders change their minds

Solar Energy:
State Regulations Force Bankruptcy of California Solar Company

Nuclear Energy:
*** Swedes Embrace Nuclear & Join Europe’s Grand Rejection of Wind & Solar Transition
*** Small modular nuclear reactors could be an affordable path to a carbon-free future
America’s oldest nuclear plants are in Upstate, and NY needs them.

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Environmentalism or Individualism? (Part 6: The “Ideal” of Primitivism)

By Robert Bidinotto -- August 16, 2024
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Environmentalism or Individualism? (Part 5: The Value of Nature)

By Robert Bidinotto -- August 15, 2024
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Environmentalism or Individualism? (Part 4: Philosophic Conflict)

By Robert Bidinotto -- August 14, 2024
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Environmentalism or Individualism? (Part 3: Inhuman Rights)

By Robert Bidinotto -- August 13, 2024
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Environmentalism or Individualism? (Part 2: Conservation vs. Preservation)

By Robert Bidinotto -- August 12, 2024
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Environmentalism or Individualism? (Part 1: America’s Enlightenment Heritage)

By Robert Bidinotto -- August 9, 2024
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Houston: Oil and Gas Capital (‘energy transition’ hyperbole falls flat)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 8, 2024
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