A Free-Market Energy Blog

German Wind Capacity Revisited: High Cost versus Least Cost

By Donald Hertzmark -- September 7, 2010

My post last week evaluated the claim that wind generation can save money for power pool customers.  It was found that the supposed savings could be realized only if the elephant in the room – the above-market feed-in tariff – was ignored.  In other words, consumer payments for electricity from a power pool was half of the story; the real price had to include the consumer-qua-taxpayer funding of the feed-in-tariff (FIT).

And with this two-part scheme, games are played. Wind generators can bid a low price into the pool only to receive a higher FIT, which gives them an incentive to underbid. This might reduce the pool price but not overall cost to Germans for electricity.

Investing in New Generation: What Makes Sense?

If a generation resource is a good investment for its developers then it must return a profit to them. …

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Remembering When Enron Saved the U.S. Wind Industry (Best of MasterResource)

By -- September 4, 2010

[Editor Note: This post by Robert Bradley Jr. from January 19th documents a fact that American Wind Energy Association might not want to know. If the American public understands why windpower is and must be government dependent to exist as an industry, and if the public knows about industrial wind’s Enron roots, then the same public might just say: ‘let’s take our energy back’.]

January 7, 1997, some 13 years ago, was one of the worst days in my 16-year career at Enron. Enron had already entered into the solar business (1994) in partnership with Amoco (Solarex), and the U.S. wind industry was on its back. Zond Corporation was struggling, and  rival Kenetech had recently suspended its dividend and was on the way to  bankruptcy. Enron bought Zond on this day and renamed it Enron Wind Company.

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Germany: Wind and the Power Pool Savings Myth

By Donald Hertzmark -- September 3, 2010

Germany is a country that has been a leader in many aspects of “clean” energy development during the past decade.  They were among the leaders in establishing pricing mechanisms for wind and solar, phasing out nuclear power and granting incentives to biomass energy producers.  Germany has the highest proportion of wind in its generation mix, now around 20%, but is no longer the absolute installed capacity leader behind the U.S. and China.

With a vast investment in above-market generation resources some in Germany are channeling “Mad Man Muntz” of early US television history – “lose money on every sale but make it up with the volume.”  It did not work for Muntz TV and it will not work for Germany.

A New Fairy Tale, Starring Wind Energy Generators

Lately, a story has gone round with the following general points:

  • Assume that the marginal cost of wind is the lowest of all existing generation plant types;
  • Assume that power pools in NW Europe accept generator bids based strictly on the marginal energy cost (MEC)
  • Assume that wind can be the marginal generation resource during some peak periods
  • Assume further that this MEC sets the price on the pool for those time segments (30 minutes) where wind is the marginal producer, and therefore
  • Wind, by setting the MEC during some peak demand periods, will reduce the price of energy during such periods and save consumers money.
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Drill, Baby, Drill Is Back, Baby, Back

By Ben Lieberman -- September 2, 2010
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Post-Carbon Left Enviro Blues (Why the Senate rejected cap-and-trade)

By -- September 1, 2010
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Let’s Stop Playing the Climate-Change Blame Game (Extreme weather alarmism unfounded)

By Chip Knappenberger -- August 31, 2010
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“Wind Power Won’t Cool Down the Planet” (Robert Bryce exposes windpower’s dirty secret)

By Kent Hawkins -- August 30, 2010
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Judith Curry Looks for Middle Ground in the Contentious Climate Debate (Jerry North, can you help her?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 27, 2010
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Latest on the Death Spiral of Climate Alarmism (Is it time to focus on real environmental problems and not CO2?)

By Robert Bradley Jr. -- August 26, 2010
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The Catastrophe That Wasn’t: The Gulf Oil Spill in Perspective

By Paul Schwennesen -- August 25, 2010
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