New scientific paper: offshore wind turbines alter marine eco-system, could shift ocean currents

[emeryjre]

Americas Newest Coal Plant is shut down after problems

Newest big U.S. coal-plant offline until 2027

The newest major coal-fired power plant in the U.S. is expected to be offline until March 2027 after a major failure in April.

ieefa.org

 

[emeryjre]

Renewables stepped in and filled the gap created when the coal plant failed

Solar, wind and storage reliably power Texas grid during unexpected coal shutdown

Solar and wind generated 40.2% of the ERCOT grid’s electricity this year through June. When coal plants shut down for unexpected maintenance, solar and wind stepped in, providing about 50% of generation during peak summer demand in the highest electricity consuming state in the union.

pv-magazine-usa.com

 

[emeryjre]

Electricity that is needed now is being held up by new regulations

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/wind-solar-power-frozen-out-trump-permitting-push-2025-12-10/

Highlights from the above article

18 GW of Electrical production is on hold under new regulations

Reuters examined permitting databases maintained by the U.S. Department of the Interior and spoke with 10 industry representatives for this story.
Energy research firm Wood Mackenzie said it has identified 18 gigawatts of solar projects on federal lands that were canceled or are inactive due to limited development progress since the start of the year.
"It's extremely detrimental to our industry because it just upsets the ability to deliver projects," said Abigail Ross Hopper, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, which estimates that more than 500 solar and storage projects are threatened by the freeze.
Last week, more than 100 solar companies penned a letter to Congressional leaders urging them to revoke the Interior Department policy, which they said amounted to a near moratorium on new permits.
and we wanted to replace that with wild

CLOUDS OVER NEVADA​

Nevada, with its sun-soaked deserts, has emerged as the epicenter of the permitting slowdown, with more than 33 gigawatts of solar and battery storage projects on or adjacent to federal lands in various stages of development, according to Republican Governor Joe Lombardo.
Lombardo warned in an August letter to Burgum that federal delays threaten supplies to NV Energy, the state's top power provider, and may hinder mining and data center expansions.
The solar projects named by Lombardo are being developed by divisions of NextEra Energy (NEE.N), opens new tab, Korea's Hanwha (000880.KS), opens new tab and Japan's SoftBank (9984.T), opens new tab.
"Nevada remains committed to an all of the above energy strategy that includes responsible solar development," Lombardo said in a statement to Reuters.
NextEra and SB Energy both declined to comment. Joo Yoon, the CEO of Hanwha development arm 174Power Global, said several of its projects are suffering from federal permitting delays, "and we are making every effort to resolve these matters in any way possible."

The stakes are high for communities like Boulder City, a Las Vegas satellite community, that relies on revenue from solar projects on city-owned land. Leases on existing projects generate $21 million a year, or nearly 40% of the city’s operating budget, according to city officials.
Two new developments – Hanwha's Boulder Solar 3, and Scout Clean Energy's Boulder Flats – would add another $3 million annually. But both projects are waiting for a final sign-off from the Bureau of Land Management because a transmission corridor is under federal jurisdiction.
"They do not communicate with us," Brok Armantrout, Boulder City’s revenue contracts manager, said of the city's inquiries to BLM staff. "Even though the field office is here in Las Vegas, they've given us email addresses promising updates. And crickets."

​

 

[Carolinian]

Read the article I put up
I answered your question hours ago
You refuse to believe it

You are obsessed with no facts
A flawed rotor that was replaced

You still suffer from tunnel vision.

In this instance, a wind turbine blade shattered in mild weather while a turbine was still in the testing stage. The cleanup for one blade was $10.5 million. The turbine was not yet even at the operating stage so the manufacturer covered it. The operator of the wind farm refuses to cover blade failures in the future, and it is questionable how long the manufacturer will once these things are fully operational.

Then there is the issue of hurricanes.

Wind turbines and solar panels are much more vulnerable to weather events than conventional power plants, and some of their components that can get scattered to the four winds are toxic. Others may not be toxic but are still dangerous like sharp broken shards of fiberglass from wind turbine blades or glass from solar panels.

We have already seen solar farms substantially destroyed by hurricanes, or even hail storms. Here is one wiped out by a hurricane:

 

[Brett]

.

 

[Carolinian]

Electricity that is needed now is being held up by new regulations

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/wind-solar-power-frozen-out-trump-permitting-push-2025-12-10/

Highlights from the above article

18 GW of Electrical production is on hold under new regulations

Reuters examined permitting databases maintained by the U.S. Department of the Interior and spoke with 10 industry representatives for this story.
Energy research firm Wood Mackenzie said it has identified 18 gigawatts of solar projects on federal lands that were canceled or are inactive due to limited development progress since the start of the year.
"It's extremely detrimental to our industry because it just upsets the ability to deliver projects," said Abigail Ross Hopper, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, which estimates that more than 500 solar and storage projects are threatened by the freeze.
Last week, more than 100 solar companies penned a letter to Congressional leaders urging them to revoke the Interior Department policy, which they said amounted to a near moratorium on new permits.
and we wanted to replace that with wild

CLOUDS OVER NEVADA​

Nevada, with its sun-soaked deserts, has emerged as the epicenter of the permitting slowdown, with more than 33 gigawatts of solar and battery storage projects on or adjacent to federal lands in various stages of development, according to Republican Governor Joe Lombardo.
Lombardo warned in an August letter to Burgum that federal delays threaten supplies to NV Energy, the state's top power provider, and may hinder mining and data center expansions.
The solar projects named by Lombardo are being developed by divisions of NextEra Energy (NEE.N), opens new tab, Korea's Hanwha (000880.KS), opens new tab and Japan's SoftBank (9984.T), opens new tab.
"Nevada remains committed to an all of the above energy strategy that includes responsible solar development," Lombardo said in a statement to Reuters.
NextEra and SB Energy both declined to comment. Joo Yoon, the CEO of Hanwha development arm 174Power Global, said several of its projects are suffering from federal permitting delays, "and we are making every effort to resolve these matters in any way possible."

The stakes are high for communities like Boulder City, a Las Vegas satellite community, that relies on revenue from solar projects on city-owned land. Leases on existing projects generate $21 million a year, or nearly 40% of the city’s operating budget, according to city officials.
Two new developments – Hanwha's Boulder Solar 3, and Scout Clean Energy's Boulder Flats – would add another $3 million annually. But both projects are waiting for a final sign-off from the Bureau of Land Management because a transmission corridor is under federal jurisdiction.
"They do not communicate with us," Brok Armantrout, Boulder City’s revenue contracts manager, said of the city's inquiries to BLM staff. "Even though the field office is here in Las Vegas, they've given us email addresses promising updates. And crickets."

​

You seem to have missed some of the links I have posted. That is part time power, not full time, and the system cost for backup will be huge. Solar typically produces for only about six hours a day at full capacity, absent clouds, frost, etc., and partial production for a few more hours, and then comes the night. Always-on nuclear is a much better option for a place like Nevada where prime time for power use in the casinos is after dark.

 

[Brett]

 

[Carolinian]

View attachment 119543


.

View attachment 119544

Ask any electric ratepayer in any country that has gone hog wild on intermittent wind and solar. Ask a German. They will get a good laugh at your claim that it is "cheaper". There is a reason that the party that has been leading in the polls in Germany and keeps expanding that lead advocates removing all the wind turbines in the country.

The flim-flam from the climate industrial complex that you post fudges the numbers by using a measure called "levelized cost of power" that does not cover all the massive system costs of wind and solar.

Its also funny that your climate industrial complex sources can't keep their story straight. In some of your undocumented big letter posts, they say the cost of coal power is going up, but this latest one admits it is going down.

 

[davidvel]

You seem to have missed some of the links I have posted. That is part time power, not full time, and the system cost for backup will be huge. Solar typically produces for only about six hours a day at full capacity, absent clouds, frost, etc., and partial production for a few more hours, and then comes the night. Always-on nuclear is a much better option for a place like Nevada where prime time for power use in the casinos is after dark.

You obviously have never been to Vegas. Prime time for electricity needs is during the day, when it is the hottest, when solar energy coincidentally is the most effective.

 

[Carolinian]

View attachment 119548

What is this, about the fourteenth time you have posted that? and with no link to where it came from? I will just have to repost the truth, and following the chart, the article it came from is linked.

Brett, Josef Goebbels was NOT correct when he claimed that if you told a lie often enough, it became the truth. Posting undocumented material as you usually do, does not have much credibility.

Setting the Record Straight on U.S. Fossil Fuel Subsidies - National Center for Energy Analytics

Download Issue Brief The Issue The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) signed into law by President Trump in July 2025 cut back on many of the tax credits for wind, solar, and other renewable energy sources contained in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022.1 While these clean energy...

energyanalytics.org

 

[Brett]

.

 

[Carolinian]

Brett, most of those claims are based on "installed capacity" rather than actual power produced. The reason for that is the former is very easy to compute and the latter extremely difficult. However, as pointed out in a previous post, with a link. while conventional power plants actually produce around 90% of installed capacity, intermittent wind and solar only actually produce between 25% and 30% of installed capacity.

This report also glosses over the massive construction of new coal fired power plants in China. I have posted links previously on that.

 

[Brett]

.

.

 

[Carolinian]

.
View attachment 119550


.

This dude goes about 8 minutes before admitting that his price numbers are "levelized cost of power" which leave out all the massive system costs of intermittent wind and solar.

He also admits that in the best areas, actual power produced by solar is only 20% of installed capacity.

He is quite slick at putting lipstick on the pig.

The most important point in cost of power is when it shows up at your meter box and in your power bill and the real world experience of countries that go heavy on wind and solar is that at that point, wind and solar make their power bills more expensive, NOT less expensive. I posted a recent article from the Wall Street Journal about how the EU sold wind and solar as making power cheaper, but in reality it made it more expensive for both consumers and industry and was now a real detriment to European industry.

 

[Brett]

.

.

 

[emeryjre]

You still suffer from tunnel vision.

In this instance, a wind turbine blade shattered in mild weather while a turbine was still in the testing stage. The cleanup for one blade was $10.5 million. The turbine was not yet even at the operating stage so the manufacturer covered it. The operator of the wind farm refuses to cover blade failures in the future, and it is questionable how long the manufacturer will once these things are fully operational.

Then there is the issue of hurricanes.

Wind turbines and solar panels are much more vulnerable to weather events than conventional power plants, and some of their components that can get scattered to the four winds are toxic. Others may not be toxic but are still dangerous like sharp broken shards of fiberglass from wind turbine blades or glass from solar panels.

We have already seen solar farms substantially destroyed by hurricanes, or even hail storms. Here is one wiped out by a hurricane:

I guess we shouldn’t talk about Fukushima and bad weather
The solar farm you show as damaged
Sweep up the panels
Take those old panels to be recycled
Install new panels
Up and running again in 30 days

 

[emeryjre]

You seem to have missed some of the links I have posted. That is part time power, not full time, and the system cost for backup will be huge. Solar typically produces for only about six hours a day at full capacity, absent clouds, frost, etc., and partial production for a few more hours, and then comes the night. Always-on nuclear is a much better option for a place like Nevada where prime time for power use in the casinos is after dark.

You seem to ignore the posts I put up
Like this one
Billions of dollars invested
No power
ERCOT just slides the capital cost into the rate increases and obfuscates where he cost comes from

Newest big U.S. coal-plant offline until 2027

The newest major coal-fired power plant in the U.S. is expected to be offline until March 2027 after a major failure in April.

ieefa.org

Renewables stepped in and filled the gap created when the coal plant failed

Solar, wind and storage reliably power Texas grid during unexpected coal shutdown​

Solar and wind generated 40.2% of the ERCOT grid’s electricity this year through June. When coal plants shut down for unexpected maintenance, solar and wind stepped in, providing about 50% of generation during peak summer demand in the highest electricity consuming state in the union.

pv-magazine-usa.com

 

[emeryjre]

Here is another link you have ignored

Town Reaches $10.5 Million Settlement With GE Vernova Over Vineyard…

Nantucket Current is the island's leading online news source. We deliver the news, stories, and people of Nantucket, unbiased and unfiltered.

nantucketcurrent.com

 

[emeryjre]

You seem to have missed some of the links I have posted. That is part time power, not full time, and the system cost for backup will be huge. Solar typically produces for only about six hours a day at full capacity, absent clouds, frost, etc., and partial production for a few more hours, and then comes the night. Always-on nuclear is a much better option for a place like Nevada where prime time for power use in the casinos is after dark.

It is obvious you didn't read anything in the article
You jump into your rant about the intermittent nature of solar and the need for always on power

If you had read the article about the 18 GW of electrical generation capacity blocked by the current administration
You might have come up with a different answer

You need an always on electrical generation operation near Boulder City, NV?
Maybe you have heard of the Hoover Dam

The dam provides electricity to the Western States using the water from the Colorado River
Water that has been in short supply for some time because of the lack of rain and snow in the Colorado River runoff areas

These solar farms being held up are almost complete
These solar farms are located in the vast areas of Desert surrounding the dam
In areas where it is hot and dry
Nobody lives there because there is no water for residential use
Millions of acres of desert
A very small percentage used by these solar farms
These solar farms feed into the same power lines as the dam

Every hour of solar generated electricity flowing into the grid allows the dam to slow the flow of water through its generators
Keeps water stored in Lake Mead

Below is an article on why keeping water in Lake Mead is important

Once a showcase of American optimism and engineering, Hoover Dam faces new power generation declines

The long-term drying of the American Southwest poses a gathering and measurable threat to hydropower generation in the Colorado River basin. Should Lake Mead, the reservoir formed by Hoover Dam, continue to shrink, a substantial drop in the dam’s hydropower output is on the horizon. The...

waterdesk.org

That is why these solar farms are important

Or we can wait for new nuclear plants to come online in the next ?? of years

Our last new nuclear plants came online in 2023 and 2025
Way over budget and 7 years late

Georgia nuclear rebirth arrives 7 years late, $17B over cost

The first new U.S. nuclear reactor built from scratch in decades has begun generating electricity. The Georgia reactor is supposed to reach full power output in coming days, with a second reactor scheduled for completion in 2024. Lead owner Georgia Power Co. says the reactors are a success. But...

apnews.com

Using what we have learned from the Vogle Plant project
This MIT report shows a lower cost of construction and a build time of 80-96 months

https://web.mit.edu/kshirvan/www/research/ANP201%20TR%20CANES.pdf

So nuclear is not a quick way out of this problem

Solar and Wind are the quickest way to deploy new electrical output and extend the lives of our current dispatchable infrastructure
If its a coal plant, it needs to be functional
Something that is not always happening

A malfunction has shuttered Riesel's coal plant for two years. A rural ISD could pay the price - The Waco Bridge

Once McLennan County's largest taxpayer, the Sandy Creek coal-fired power plant is likely to see its taxable value plummet further after a major mechanical failure Sandy Creek Energy Station, the last large coal plant constructed in the U.S., sits cold and idle in the prairies just outside of...

wacobridge.org

 

[davidvel]

It is obvious you didn't read anything in the article
You jump into your rant about the intermittent nature of solar and the need for always on power

If you had read the article about the 18 GW of electrical generation capacity blocked by the current administration
You might have come up with a different answer

You need an always on electrical generation operation near Boulder City, NV?
Maybe you have heard of the Hoover Dam

The dam provides electricity to the Western States using the water from the Colorado River
Water that has been in short supply for some time because of the lack of rain and snow in the Colorado River runoff areas

These solar farms being held up are almost complete
These solar farms are located in the vast areas of Desert surrounding the dam
In areas where it is hot and dry
Nobody lives there because there is no water for residential use
Millions of acres of desert
A very small percentage used by these solar farms
These solar farms feed into the same power lines as the dam

Every hour of solar generated electricity flowing into the grid allows the dam to slow the flow of water through its generators
Keeps water stored in Lake Mead

Below is an article on why keeping water in Lake Mead is important

Once a showcase of American optimism and engineering, Hoover Dam faces new power generation declines

The long-term drying of the American Southwest poses a gathering and measurable threat to hydropower generation in the Colorado River basin. Should Lake Mead, the reservoir formed by Hoover Dam, continue to shrink, a substantial drop in the dam’s hydropower output is on the horizon. The...

waterdesk.org

That is why these solar farms are important

Or we can wait for new nuclear plants to come online in the next ?? of years

Our last new nuclear plants came online in 2023 and 2025
Way over budget and 7 years late

Georgia nuclear rebirth arrives 7 years late, $17B over cost

The first new U.S. nuclear reactor built from scratch in decades has begun generating electricity. The Georgia reactor is supposed to reach full power output in coming days, with a second reactor scheduled for completion in 2024. Lead owner Georgia Power Co. says the reactors are a success. But...

apnews.com

Using what we have learned from the Vogle Plant project
This MIT report shows a lower cost of construction and a build time of 80-96 months

https://web.mit.edu/kshirvan/www/research/ANP201%20TR%20CANES.pdf

So nuclear is not a quick way out of this problem

Solar and Wind are the quickest way to deploy new electrical output and extend the lives of our current dispatchable infrastructure
If its a coal plant, it needs to be functional
Something that is not always happening

A malfunction has shuttered Riesel's coal plant for two years. A rural ISD could pay the price - The Waco Bridge

Once McLennan County's largest taxpayer, the Sandy Creek coal-fired power plant is likely to see its taxable value plummet further after a major mechanical failure Sandy Creek Energy Station, the last large coal plant constructed in the U.S., sits cold and idle in the prairies just outside of...

wacobridge.org

I know you mean well and are an intelligent human. But, you can't compete with the coo coos. We learned around 2020 that whacko conspiracy cult addicts are not connected to reality. You are speaking a different language that their brains do not understand, and in a different universe that they exist.

 

[emeryjre]

I do not write to convince him
I write to present tho other side of the story
This thread had 10k views
If one person realizes how out of touch with reality the opposition to solar and wind is
I am happy
Letting him have the floor with no counter is what is happening in lots of places

 

[Carolinian]

Here is another link you have ignored

Town Reaches $10.5 Million Settlement With GE Vernova Over Vineyard…

Nantucket Current is the island's leading online news source. We deliver the news, stories, and people of Nantucket, unbiased and unfiltered.

nantucketcurrent.com

Ignored???? NO, I was the first one to post it. $10.5 Million cleanup cost for one shattered blade.

What YOU ignore is the subsequent news that I posted where the operator of that wind farm refuses to obligate itself for future cleanups. This shattered blade happened in the testing phase in calm weather and the manufacturer covered it. Whether they would do that once the project is certified and turned over to the developer is very questionable.

And the question you keep avoiding. What happens when a hurricane destroys a whole offshore wind farm or series of windfarms? Who is going to clean that up?

 

[Carolinian]

I know you mean well and are an intelligent human. But, you can't compete with the coo coos. We learned around 2020 that whacko conspiracy cult addicts are not connected to reality. You are speaking a different language that their brains do not understand, and in a different universe that they exist.

Some people drink the green kool aid from the climate industrial complex. I have presented material from lots of experts and commentators who all parts of the philosophical spectrum from Michael Moore on the left to Nigel Farage on the right who all agree that intermittent land-intensive wind and solar cost too much and destroy the environment.

I have challenged those who claim it is "low cost" energy to point to one place that has gone heavy into wind and solar where it has reduced the cost to consumers. They cannot, because the reality is that deploying lots of wind and solar always raises the actual cost to consumers, both families and businesses. On the other side of the coin, I posted an example where retail electric rates dropped by 70% when a new nuclear power plant opened in Finland.

"Levelized cost of power" is a sham. What counts is what power costs when it gets to your meter box and shows up on your bill.

The recent Wall Street Journal article I linked earlier explained that wind and solar were sold to European citizens as being cheaper electricity but the reality was the other way around and it is considerably more expensive.

Germany using wind and solar to replace nuclear cost them an extra 600 Billion euros over 20 years. Now the high energy costs with wind and solar are creating threats to German chemical and automotive industries.

https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2024/08/27/study_quantifies_germanys_disastrous_switch_away_from_nuclear_power_1053889.html

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14786451.2024.2355642#abstract

Here again is one of the experts who can explain all of this to you:

 

[Carolinian]

The solar farm you show as damaged
Sweep up the panels
Take those old panels to be recycled
Install new panels
Up and running again in 30 days

Given that those shattered solar panels are hazardous waste containing toxic substances, the environmental cleanup is a heck of a lot more than "sweep up the panels". Your time frame is downright laughable.

Then there is the issue of a hurricane destroying a whole offshore wind farm or series of wind farms. When cleaning up for one shattered blade in mild weather costs $10.5 million, how much is it going to cost to clean up for a whole destroyed offshore wind farm and who is going to pay for it.? Building offshore wind farms in the path of hurricanes is downright insane and environmentally reckless

As usual, you show no concern at all for the environment. It was like an earlier post where what Australian environmentalists called "virgin rainforest" you distainfully called "undeveloped land". Or your total lack of concern for the wildlife - birds, bats, insects, whales, etc. being slaughtered by wind turbines. Environmentalists are known as "tree huggers" but the climate industrial complex are massive tree destroyers. "Save the Whales" is a slogan of true environmentalists, but the climate industrial complex does not care that they slaughter whales, including the critically endangered Atlantic Right Whale.

 

[Brett]

.