Tuesday, May 11, 2010

But the Intellectual Left is so much smarter than we are!

I don't understand how this could have happened. I mean, this was carefully planned by Really Smart Progressives™:

The initial 20.7 cents/KwH price [for electricity from Massachusetts' Cape Wind project purchased by National Grid, Inc.] increases by 3.5% annually, for 15 years. That assumes the monster bird shredders won’t sink before then.

The price and annual increase is a great deal for the green energy sector, less so for the consumers that have to buy it. The current price for electricity in Massachussetts is only 9 cents/KwH.

And as one ecotard is discovering, wind isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Welcome to the alternative energy future: unreliable, intermittent power at more than twice the price of traditional generation.

But I'm sure that there are no insider political connections behind the purchase contract. Quite sure. I mean, these people are Nicer Than Us™, too.

5 comments:

libertyman said...

So in 15 years it will only cost 32+ cents a kWh ? Wow -- I wonder who will pay that?

Anonymous said...

I nearly blew coffee on my display at the 20 cents figure. Good grief.

Don't get I wrong, wind turbines are a marvel of engineering and manufacture. I'm sure also that their installation is a meaningful challenge too. Then again if the best price they can get is that, then they're doomed.

Jim

Lissa said...

And they smell better than us, too.

Eagle said...

Yeh, but on calm days we can send power TO them, turn 'em into REAL fans, and beat up a breeze for the sailboats owned by those "Nicer Than Us" folks!

Paul, Dammit! said...

...and since they're conveniently located right where a 20-year storm or hurricane will pass through, insurance on the turbines had to be capitalized into the purchase cost, which drove the price up.. the justification being that there's a small gamble as to whether or not they'll survive to the end of their projected service life, which would be the point where the turbines would be at their most profitable.