The Energy Thread

[Walter Sobchak]

Somewhat paradoxically, places that have adopted renewable energy most aggressively have seen energy prices soar... a German economist predicted this when solar hits 15% of production and wind hits 30% of production.

Wind, solar produce 10 percent of US electricity for first time

Wind and solar produced 10 percent of the electricity generated in the United States for the first time in March, federal energy officials said Wednesday.

The Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) monthly power report for March found that wind produced 8 percent of the electricity produced in the U.S. that month, with solar producing 2 percent.

The two sources combined to have their best month ever in terms of percentage of overall electricity production, EIA said. The agency expects the two sources topped 10 percent again in April but forecasts that their generation will fall below that mark during the summer months.
[...]

Fascinating read...

If Solar And Wind Are So Cheap, Why Are They Making Electricity So Expensive?

Over the last year, the media have published story after story after story about the declining price of solar panels and wind turbines.

People who read these stories are understandably left with the impression that the more solar and wind energy we produce, the lower electricity prices will become.

And yet that’s not what’s happening. In fact, it’s the opposite.

Between 2009 and 2017, the price of solar panels per watt declined by 75 percent while the price of wind turbines per watt declined by 50 percent.

And yet — during the same period — the price of electricity in places that deployed significant quantities of renewables increased dramatically.

Electricity prices increased by:

• 51 percent in Germany during its expansion of solar and wind energy from 2006 to 2016;
• 24 percent in California during its solar energy build-out from 2011 to 2017;
• over 100 percent in Denmark since 1995 when it began deploying renewables (mostly wind) in earnest.

What gives? If solar panels and wind turbines became so much cheaper, why did the price of electricity rise instead of decline?



[...]

[Uncle Ted]

Embedded Tweet

Yep, the solution to climate change has been sitting there all along... The damn nuclear protesting hippies (and that pencil-neck Bill Nye, the anti-science guy) are to blame.



I hope you choke on your CO2, Bill Nye!

[Walter Sobchak]

Nuke baby, nuke!


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/21/op...ower.html?_r=0

Those opposing nuclear power are causing global warming.

Embedded Tweet

[Uncle Ted]

Wind, solar produce 10 percent of US electricity for first time


Wind, solar produce 10 percent of US electricity for first time
Wind and solar produced 10 percent of the electricity generated in the United States for the first time in March, federal energy officials said Wednesday.


The Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) monthly power report for March found that wind produced 8 percent of the electricity produced in the U.S. that month, with solar producing 2 percent.


The two sources combined to have their best month ever in terms of percentage of overall electricity production, EIA said. The agency expects the two sources topped 10 percent again in April but forecasts that their generation will fall below that mark during the summer months.
[...]

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-env...for-first-time

Surprisingly most of this renewable energy is generated in red states...

In Trump Country, Renewable Energy Is Thriving

Two years ago, Kansas repealed a law requiring that 20 percent of the state’s electric power come from renewable sources by 2020, seemingly a step backward on energy in a deeply conservative state.


Yet by the time the law was scrapped, it had become largely irrelevant. Kansas blew past that 20 percent target in 2014, and last year generated more than 30 percent of its power from wind. The state may be the first in the country to hit 50 percent wind generation in a year or two, unless Iowa gets there first.


Some of the fastest progress on clean energy is occurring in states led by Republican governors and legislators, and states carried by Donald J. Trump in the presidential election.


The five states that get the largest percentage of their power from wind turbines — Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota, Oklahoma and North Dakota — all voted for Mr. Trump. So did Texas, which produces the most wind power in absolute terms. In fact, 69 percent of the wind power produced in the country comes from states that Mr. Trump carried in November.
[...]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/06/c...st-states.html

[Northwestcoug]

LOL. Best Nauvoo Pageant ever.

I knew that routine looked familiar!

[myboynoah]

That's pretty awesome.

[Dwight Schr-ute]

LOL. Best Nauvoo Pageant ever.

[Northwestcoug]

[Green Monstah]

Neat!

[ATTACH]7688[/ATTACH]

A terrible idea on many levels. Rick Perry was a successful governor of Texas because Texans are resistant to change, and Perry never really got much done. Perfect Texas governor; terrible policy maker and bureaucrat.

[Green Monstah]

Actually I am interested in these reasons. Is there an explanation less than 5 paragraphs?


Also I've been invited to the Middle East Heavy Oil Congress in Bahrain. Not that I'm going, but when did "heavy" become a common term? With the advent of massive shale oil extraction? Fracking?

Re: heavy: https://labs.weatherford.com/service...ry/api-gravity

A lot of the oil coming from the Uinta basin is heavy. The oil from the Williston basis/Bakken shale is heavy. As Mol said, not only is some of the stuff in the Permian basin not heavy, but it's surprisingly light, which is more valuable due to the increased quantity of higher-end refined products.

[Dwight Schr-ute]

Neat!

Rick Perry.jpg

[Katy Lied]

Btw, this is causing nightmares for accountants...for really boring reasons.

Actually I am interested in these reasons. Is there an explanation less than 5 paragraphs?


Also I've been invited to the Middle East Heavy Oil Congress in Bahrain. Not that I'm going, but when did "heavy" become a common term? With the advent of massive shale oil extraction? Fracking?

[Moliere]

The oil being fraced out of the Permian is not heavy oil.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Northwestcoug]

"conventional"

Thanks

[Green Monstah]

I should have said traditional wells. My FIL did work in the oil sands of Alberta long before it became profitable. I know there is a lot of heavy oil available for extraction. He is now involved with offshore drilling, and I'm pretty sure he means that all the large 'traditional' (or whatever you call it) wells have been discovered.

"conventional"