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US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

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231–240 of 933 posts

Re: US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

#231
RWE is the biggest producer of energy from lignite in Germany, which causes massive emissions even when compared to burning black coal, oil and gas. Lignite used to be really important for Germany because it has almost no reserves of oil and gas that can be accessed with traditional methods, but Germany has huge natural gas reserves that can be accessed with hydraulic fracturing. Of course, fracking is illegal in Germany, so we keep burning lignite instead, which is so much worse. Mind you, I'm not arguing that fracking is the future, we need to decarbonize the entire energy sector, but we could do so much better with the cards that we were dealt.

So the lignite-burning energy dinosaur from Germany accepting a billion dollar bribe to divest resources from clean energy into fossil fuels is totally in character for that company. Shame on them.

Re: US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

#233
post #177
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, like a breakup fee in a commercial contract.

So a subsidy to stop building, instead of a subsidy to start building

No, it's compensation for backing out of a deal. In contract law, once a deal is signed, you're entitled to the "benefit of the bargain" if you perform your end of the deal. A breakup fee allows one side to get out of the deal, while compensating the other side for sunk cost into the project, opportunity costs from not having pursued other deals, etc.

Re: US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

#234
post #9

We need more energy. We should be doing this, gas, nuclear, solar. Not either or.

We also need to use less total energy, regardless of source. That number doesn't have to always go up.

In medieval times we used tiny amounts of energy on lighting and everyone sat around in the dark, however the energy used per lumen and indeed the carbon impact per lumen was far higher than it is today

Do you think we should return to medieval heat and light?

Re: US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

#235

> Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement posted on X that Americans deserve an energy system built on common sense and not one dependent on "costly subsidies". I agree. This is why we are building offshore wind and not subsidizing fossil fuels, right?

> not one dependent on "costly subsidies".

While paying out 1.2 billion dollars.

Re: US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

#236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That leaves a lot of free energy sources untapped - especially hydro.

If you can set up a hydro/pump dam without wrecking the ecosystem and don't need handouts to function, I'm all for it.

As opposed to fossil fuels, which are great for ecosystems, both locally and globally?

Re: US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

#237

is it just me or does that seems to be a decision driven fully by a personal dislike of wind energy without having actually run the numbers, or in other words the art of a deal isn't that like yes there was binding commitment to RWE getting some level of subsidies, hence he had to "pay them of" around the amount of profit they have likely list, and probably more but... compared to not paying that much more in subsidi…

The art of the deal is historically mostly losing, flailing and bankruptcies

Re: US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

#238

The USA is governed by evil people, and the people of the nation are too stupid and expecting someone else to stop them. Plain as day light.

In the USA's defence, the system that put these gangsters in charge also gives it a shot at changing course in a couple of years.

Re: US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

#239
post #74

This is beyond my understanding. They are actually paying to stop society from advancing.

Trump holds a grudge against wind turbines, for no other reason than that they "ruined" the view at a golf course / club he owns in Scotland. He tried to get them removed, but lost that case in court. That's mostly it. Another factor would be Trump getting donations from the oil & gas industry.

When I have drive past the course, I always have the urge to pee. One day I'll get out and take a piss on the green.

Re: US strikes $1.2B deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

#240

US has absurdly large domestic energy resources like gas reserves, coal reserves, uranium, and thermal energy infrastructure. Then, there is the supply chain argument: the specialized turbines, components, vessels and manufacturing chains are manufactured overseas and imported to support Wind. RWE is itself German. It’s good to reduce dependence on foreign supply chains. Fishing and maritime was also cited as a conce…

Do you know if it would be easier to get fully domestic supply and manufacturing chains for solar or for wind, if a way is found to prevent corruption undermining setting up fully domestic production?
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