We have been told over and over that wind and solar are cheap sources of electricity. If this is true, then our electric bills should be going down. Instead they surged 14% in 2022 alone.
Like so many things concerning the climate, and the energy policy it has spawned, the truth is not what we are being told. Wind and solar make our electric bills go up.
Electric grids can store no power and demand must be met by immediate supply. If not, blackouts and shortages.
Because wind and solar are part-time and undependable, we must pay for full-time sources too. Battery storage would conservatively cost our nation four times GDP or $100 trillion. That just isn’t affordable.
Wind and solar have droughts for extended periods of time when neither is producing any electricity. Europe has experienced 32% drops in wind production for extended periods. (RELATED: EJ ANTONI: Janet Yellen Really Wants You To Believe Bidenomics Has Been A Smashing Success)
The IPCC predicts wind speeds may drop 10% because of climate change, requiring even more wind turbines. The US has about 80,000 wind towers producing about 9% of our electricity. Do we have enough land and oceans for 500,000 more?
Solar makes little electricity when it’s cloudy, rainy and the first and last hour of the day. And none at night.
To keep the grocery stores and hospitals working we have to pay for nuclear, natural gas (NG) and coal which provided nearly 80% of our electricity in 2022. Wind and solar provided just 14%.
The more part-time electricity we add, the more our grid costs. The more full-time, on demand electricity we take off the grid by closing reliable low-cost coal and NG, the more likely we will have blackouts.
Today’s Grid Brief is our weekly look at generation in America’s power markets.
We’ve added news items to each market where appropriate.https://t.co/kqV1t47YNQ
— Grid Brief (@GridBrief) January 3, 2024
This graph shows how natural gas and coal are turned up and down to meet the ever-changing demand, and the uncontrollable, undependable wind and solar output.
Florida has more than 12 million solar panels and gets just 4% of their electricity from them. Hundreds of millions will not keep the lights on in New York’s cold dark winters. New York is mandating a 100% renewable grid and electric appliances and heating. This is going to be an expensive disaster.
California went in big, adding 12.7 million rooftop solar installations, with what is cleverly called net metering. Which is paying retail prices for wholesale electricity they sell to the grid. Causing non-solar home owners to pay an extra $5 billion a year. The solar industry in California is collapsing because they ended this unfair subsidy.
California gets 24% of their electricity from solar and pays 80% above the national average. Their rates are climbing fast with no end in sight.
Minnesota, with their mandate for 100% wind and solar, is experiencing large rate increases. Germany and Denmark, leaders in wind and solar, have rates triple ours. As our electricity rates continue to climb we have Schadenfreude to look forward to, by thinking about their higher costs.
Climbing electric bills are another consequence of Bidenomics because we have to pay for full-time and more part-time electricity.
When an NG or coal plant has to be throttled back, because of wind and solar, they still must use fuel and be running. They need steam at a moment’s notice to turn giant turbines to make electricity. This causes emissions and costs money, even when producing little or no electricity to sell to the grid. Every kilowatt they do sell must have higher prices.
Like your car, the greatest cost is your monthly payment, insurance, licensing, and maintenance, not the fuel. The same is true for NG and coal plants, and they have to pay workers too.
Wind and solar charge higher prices because their competitors have to. So your electric rates will climb as more wind and solar are added.
Then add the cost of batteries and thousands of miles of expensive transmission wires needed to move electricity from rural areas to cities. Welcome to skyrocketing electric rates. (RELATED: FRANK LASEE: Bidenomics Is Scarier Than A Haunted House On Halloween)
Biden’s EPA is working on closing every coal and natural gas plant. Fifteen states get 28% to 88% of their electricity from coal. Our electricity regulators predict a “massive grid disruption” because of our energy policies. From closing on-demand full-time power plants.
The Chinese use more than half of the 8.5 billion tons of coal used each year. China and India are building hundreds of coal plants that last 50-75 years. Because coal is low-cost and reliable. They both get the majority of all their primary energy from coal and plan to use more.
Closing our coal and NG plants will not make a difference to the temperature or the weather. Don’t believe the propaganda.
Biden and democrats are pleasing the climate cult by making our electricity costs skyrocket and mandating EVs, electric appliances, and heat. Skyrocketing electricity rates will hurt people of color, the poor and middle class the most. Because they spend the highest portion of their money on energy.
We need a new direction, one that puts American energy and families first.
Frank Lasee is the President of Truth in Energy and Climate and a former Wisconsin State Senator.
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