Wind Power - Environmental disaster.
I am a 43 year old physics PhD turned software engineer father of 3 who prides himself on energy efficiency.
I definitely 'think green'. Geothermal heating and cooling, better building codes, compact fluorescent bulbs, 4 cyl. cars, programmable thermostats - all examples of things Canadians could do better to save energy. Far from perfect, though, like anyone.
The only green part of wind power is all the money that is flowing into the pockets of large multinational corporations.
I know that the public has no real idea of how much money these wind turbines are costing us taxpayers. If the real truth about this matter was to be made public, I think it would be a big news item.
I will show you some articles, but if you know the very basics of investment it it easy to figure out how many millions and as it turns out billions of dollars we taxpayers are spending on wind power in Canada.
First, here is a little blurb that I wrote:
Would You Own a Windmill?
Cost $3 million. Expected return on investment ~ about 15 - 25 % sounds
good for a large corporation. So that means that a wind turbine just
has to clear about $500,000 per year to make money. Easy. After all
wind is free.
1.5 MW turbines stand 40 stories tall, but on average you can expect
to only get about 20% or so use out of them - the rest of the time
the wind is not blowing, or they are down for maintenance. They run
365 days per year, 24 hours per day * 20% of the time, so 1752 hours
per year. Electricity costs 10 cents per kwh at home, but 1/2 of that
is for transmission. The other 5 cents is for the power. 5 cents is
the retail price. You will only get 2 to 3 cents, as you own a source
of electricity that can't be turned on as demand requires. Say 2.5 cents. In
total your $3 million investment makes 1.5MW*365*24*20%*0.025 = $66
thousand per year. Wow. That is not much money. But you still have to
maintain the turbine. Good luck doing that for $50 thousand a year,
after lightning, wind and sun do their damage.
Why, then all the turbines going up in Ontario? The answer is
government money - $400 000+ of it per turbine per year. So now you
are happy. You get to charge 11 cents per kwh, get cheques, depreciation
allowances, tax breaks, and more. It won't be easy. You will have to spend
many hours at Queen's Park. Flights to Ottawa. But if your company is
named 'Brascan' you might just succeed.
References
Energy Probe:
http://www.energyprobe.org/energyprobe/articles/EPreviewofwindpowerresults.pdf
Financial Post article by Robert M. MacIntosh
(Mr. MacIntosh is past president of the Canadian Bankers Association)
http://www.bhcc.ca/financial_post_article.htm
The kinds of things that governments are batting about with regard to wind:
http://www.energy.gov.on.ca/index.cfm?fuseaction=archives.news2&back=yes&news_id=16&backgrounder_id=21
• A 10-year corporate income tax holiday for new electricity generation from clean, alternative and renewable energy sources, including natural gas, hydro-electric, solar, wind, biomass, hydrogen fuel cell and co-generation. The corporate income tax holiday would be available once the project has been completed and the corporation has begun selling the new electricity supply.
• A 10-year property tax holiday for newly created assets that generate electricity from clean, alternative or renewable sources of energy, with compensation to municipalities for lost property tax revenues. The tax exemption would begin on the date that the eligible facility commences generation of electricity.
• A 100-per-cent corporate income tax write-off in the year of acquisition for the cost of newly acquired assets used to generate electricity from clean, alternative or renewable sources, to be incorporated in a planned regulation. The write-off would be available for corporations that purchase eligible assets after November 25, 2002, and before January 1, 2008.
• A capital tax exemption for newly acquired assets used to generate electricity from clean, alternative or renewable sources. Corporations that purchase eligible assets after November 25, 2002, and before January 1, 2008, would qualify.
• A full retail sales tax rebate for building materials purchased and incorporated into clean, alternative or renewable electricity generation facilities. The rebate would be in effect for purchases of building materials made after November 25, 2002, and prior to January 1, 2008.
• Some of the tax incentives above would help support the Beck Tunnel Project in Niagara Falls.
Q&A about Standard Offer Contracts (comic relief)
http://www.wind-works.org/FeedLaws/Canada/Q&AonStandardOfferContracts.html
Reality: The Standard Offer contract was developed for small 10 MW and under programs. So Florida Light and Power is applying for something like 50 or more 10 MW contracts in Ontario.
Local opposition to Wind Turbines in Ontario:
http://www.bhcc.ca
http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2006/11/27/puff-of-opposition-could-blow-ontarios-energy-schedule-down/
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/politics/story.html?id=1393e10e-2e85-468f-86ef-a581e527060d&k=92678
Land leases for wind
There is a gold rush on in Ontario right now for people who can talk farmers into signing on. These contracts are resold to the highest bidder, and all sorts of tactics are used to get them to sign on. Basically, door to door salesmen get farmers to sign dubiously worded 50 year wind leases on their land. Then large companies announce their intention to develop wind power in an area, then the door to door salesmen sell the contracts to the big companies for lots of instant profit.
http://www.ofa.on.ca/policyissues/issues/Wind%20Power%20Lease%20Suggestions.pdf
Windaction
http://www.windaction.org/
I definitely 'think green'. Geothermal heating and cooling, better building codes, compact fluorescent bulbs, 4 cyl. cars, programmable thermostats - all examples of things Canadians could do better to save energy. Far from perfect, though, like anyone.
The only green part of wind power is all the money that is flowing into the pockets of large multinational corporations.
I know that the public has no real idea of how much money these wind turbines are costing us taxpayers. If the real truth about this matter was to be made public, I think it would be a big news item.
I will show you some articles, but if you know the very basics of investment it it easy to figure out how many millions and as it turns out billions of dollars we taxpayers are spending on wind power in Canada.
First, here is a little blurb that I wrote:
Would You Own a Windmill?
Cost $3 million. Expected return on investment ~ about 15 - 25 % sounds
good for a large corporation. So that means that a wind turbine just
has to clear about $500,000 per year to make money. Easy. After all
wind is free.
1.5 MW turbines stand 40 stories tall, but on average you can expect
to only get about 20% or so use out of them - the rest of the time
the wind is not blowing, or they are down for maintenance. They run
365 days per year, 24 hours per day * 20% of the time, so 1752 hours
per year. Electricity costs 10 cents per kwh at home, but 1/2 of that
is for transmission. The other 5 cents is for the power. 5 cents is
the retail price. You will only get 2 to 3 cents, as you own a source
of electricity that can't be turned on as demand requires. Say 2.5 cents. In
total your $3 million investment makes 1.5MW*365*24*20%*0.025 = $66
thousand per year. Wow. That is not much money. But you still have to
maintain the turbine. Good luck doing that for $50 thousand a year,
after lightning, wind and sun do their damage.
Why, then all the turbines going up in Ontario? The answer is
government money - $400 000+ of it per turbine per year. So now you
are happy. You get to charge 11 cents per kwh, get cheques, depreciation
allowances, tax breaks, and more. It won't be easy. You will have to spend
many hours at Queen's Park. Flights to Ottawa. But if your company is
named 'Brascan' you might just succeed.
References
Energy Probe:
http://www.energyprobe.org/energyprobe/articles/EPreviewofwindpowerresults.pdf
Financial Post article by Robert M. MacIntosh
(Mr. MacIntosh is past president of the Canadian Bankers Association)
http://www.bhcc.ca/financial_post_article.htm
The kinds of things that governments are batting about with regard to wind:
http://www.energy.gov.on.ca/index.cfm?fuseaction=archives.news2&back=yes&news_id=16&backgrounder_id=21
• A 10-year corporate income tax holiday for new electricity generation from clean, alternative and renewable energy sources, including natural gas, hydro-electric, solar, wind, biomass, hydrogen fuel cell and co-generation. The corporate income tax holiday would be available once the project has been completed and the corporation has begun selling the new electricity supply.
• A 10-year property tax holiday for newly created assets that generate electricity from clean, alternative or renewable sources of energy, with compensation to municipalities for lost property tax revenues. The tax exemption would begin on the date that the eligible facility commences generation of electricity.
• A 100-per-cent corporate income tax write-off in the year of acquisition for the cost of newly acquired assets used to generate electricity from clean, alternative or renewable sources, to be incorporated in a planned regulation. The write-off would be available for corporations that purchase eligible assets after November 25, 2002, and before January 1, 2008.
• A capital tax exemption for newly acquired assets used to generate electricity from clean, alternative or renewable sources. Corporations that purchase eligible assets after November 25, 2002, and before January 1, 2008, would qualify.
• A full retail sales tax rebate for building materials purchased and incorporated into clean, alternative or renewable electricity generation facilities. The rebate would be in effect for purchases of building materials made after November 25, 2002, and prior to January 1, 2008.
• Some of the tax incentives above would help support the Beck Tunnel Project in Niagara Falls.
Q&A about Standard Offer Contracts (comic relief)
http://www.wind-works.org/FeedLaws/Canada/Q&AonStandardOfferContracts.html
Reality: The Standard Offer contract was developed for small 10 MW and under programs. So Florida Light and Power is applying for something like 50 or more 10 MW contracts in Ontario.
Local opposition to Wind Turbines in Ontario:
http://www.bhcc.ca
http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2006/11/27/puff-of-opposition-could-blow-ontarios-energy-schedule-down/
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/politics/story.html?id=1393e10e-2e85-468f-86ef-a581e527060d&k=92678
Land leases for wind
There is a gold rush on in Ontario right now for people who can talk farmers into signing on. These contracts are resold to the highest bidder, and all sorts of tactics are used to get them to sign on. Basically, door to door salesmen get farmers to sign dubiously worded 50 year wind leases on their land. Then large companies announce their intention to develop wind power in an area, then the door to door salesmen sell the contracts to the big companies for lots of instant profit.
http://www.ofa.on.ca/policyissues/issues/Wind%20Power%20Lease%20Suggestions.pdf
Windaction
http://www.windaction.org/
posted by Tom Andersen at 5:41 PM
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