Wind farms in Pacific Northwest paid to not produce

[Pudfark]

Wind farms in the Pacific Northwest -- built with government subsidies and maintained with tax credits for every megawatt produced -- are now getting paid to shut down as the federal agency charged with managing the region's electricity grid says there's an oversupply of renewable power at certain times of the year.

Now, Bonneville is offering to compensate wind companies for half their lost revenue. The bill could reach up to $50 million a year.
The extra payout means energy users will eventually have to pay more.
"We require taxpayers to subsidize the production of renewable energy, and now we want ratepayers to pay renewable energy companies when they lose money?" asked Todd Myers, director of the Center for the Environment of the Washington Policy Center and author of "Eco-Fads: How the Rise of Trendy Environmentalism is Harming the Environment."


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03 ... z1oTKZXpaI

[Reservoir_Dog]

Speaking of wind farms......... how you doing, Pud?

[Pudfark]

Fine...just waiting on the rain to get here...If the lake goes up another foot or so...I'll be able to launch my boat

[Tolwyn]

Um, being that I work for the company responsible for 3 dams on the Columbia river... this doesn't suprise me.

The idea is to let the market work, not use taxpayer money to build these dumb-ass "alternate" energy sources. Did you know the government made a decision to say that hydro power wasn't renewable?? WTF??!! It's cheaper for people around the state to buy our surplus energy than it is to use the wind farms....


PS: I live in an area where we have the 2nd LOWEST cost per kWh. The first is across the river in Douglas County, WA. We saved California a few years ago.
Residential monthly energy charge per kWh: 2.7 cents

Tolwyn Says:
Turn up the AC, I'll barely notice it in the pocket book!

[Tolwyn]

Of course, we're publically owned, not government subsidized.

[callmeslick]

good stuff, Tolwyn. Thanks for the personal experience input. I have had a running battle with my friends on the leftward side of things who are avid fishermen, for years. Sure, I tell them, dams like yours DO feck with salmon spawning runs, but the bottom line is that EVERYONE needs the electricity, and lots of it. The way I see it, we can have a fair number of viable salmon rivers and still maintain other flows for hydro power. An all or nothing approach, as with most things, is shortsighted.

[Tolwyn]

We have to invest in stuff in order to keep our license to run the dams.

http://www.chelanpud.org/juvenile-fish-passage.html

good stuff, Tolwyn. Thanks for the personal experience input. I have had a running battle with my friends on the leftward side of things who are avid fishermen, for years. Sure, I tell them, dams like yours DO feck with salmon spawning runs, but the bottom line is that EVERYONE needs the electricity, and lots of it. The way I see it, we can have a fair number of viable salmon rivers and still maintain other flows for hydro power. An all or nothing approach, as with most things, is shortsighted.