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

bbc.com

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

#521

Post by ctkhn »

acdha wrote: post #349
rayiner wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like wind farms, but I think it's fair to observe that they're often built in nice places, whereas fossil fuel infrastructure is built in places you'd never go to voluntarily.

Drive around Southern California and you’ll see everything from oil derricks to refineries in places which would otherwise be full of housing if they weren’t so polluting.

Some of them are right next to housing. Huntington beach has wells adjoining homes near the beach. Look up the prices of the houses if you want to really go crazy

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

#522

Post by 1dontknow_ »

runarberg wrote: post #382
bakies wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Older generation has lead poisoning from all the leaded gasoline burned

I hate this theory. It is extremely condescending, offers nothing, has no proof, but sounds plausible enough that many people believe it. It is much more likely that our economic system rewards hostile behavior and that money has outsized influence in politics and a criminal justice system which lets rich people get away with crimes. That money correlates more with hostile behavior then lead, Instead of blaming lead,…

Wow I never knew about this theory! But I like your comment because ... idk, if its true at least its as simple as "Lets avoid that, and we ensure each Empire of today exists forever." I wish that was true! So how can we be sure, as somewhat smart people, that this is true and responsibly communicate it? Because everything else is dishonest and hurts our society.

Im no history expert but I know there were other Empires thru different times and sizes and places, and since now they're not the same, they "Failed"? Did they fail exactly due to the same problem or others? Are we treating those too? What is our method and how strong did we criticize it and see and understand it flaws?

At a time with fake news, AI slop and whatever the Internet has become today, its our job to treat every statement with the highest from of critical thinking at our disposal.

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

#523

Post by bluGill »

If you are in the US make sure you write your congressman about this. Elections are coming up in a couple months and if they see this as an issue they will ensure something happens. There is already suspicion that the Democrats will win the house (which doesn't take too many districts to turn - this commonly would happen anyway), even a republican in a "safe seat" is scared.

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

#524

Post by rsynnott »

cloudie78 wrote: post #77

[flagged]

> 1.2B gives you a 1-1.5GW nuclear power station

Er... That seems optimistic. Even in China, which is the current world leader and has significant advantages of scale, nuclear capacity costs $2-3bn per GW. The most recent US construction (Vogtle 3 and 4) took 14 years and cost $36bn for two reactors of 1.1GW each.

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

#525

Post by estearum »

epolanski wrote: post #478
estearum wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are commenting on an article in which the US is deciding (and paying immense costs) in order not to do everything. The current administration is actively trying to squash several proven-valuable ways of converting non-renewable resources into renewable ones.

the current administration is the key word. In any case, you can't expect stable policies in a country with a winner-takes-all democracy.

Not sure how that's relevant to the topic here.

Your initial comment seemed to imply that these actions are the rational downstream consequences of the US's incentives. Now you seem to be suggesting that maybe it's not, but it's just the actions of the current administration?

Not sure what policy stability has to do with anything. If anything it's a further indictment of your point. A successful energy project will span multiple administrations to come to fruition. It takes just one administration to kill a project... as illustrated by TFA. This is not in fact explainable as a rational response to the US's incentives.

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

#526

Post by mrguyorama »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #143
jacknews wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump literally just paid money (taxpayer money) for nothing

I don’t understand what pot of money this is coming out of. Has Congress authorized taxpayer money be used for paying energy companies to halt projects?

Republicans in congress have decided that Trump should not be stopped. Ever.

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

#527

Post by gehsty »

We need to be careful in not throwing the babies out with the bath water - the fees paid for the leases for these projects were so high that the projects would not be economically viable in the first place. The developers are probably doing back flips behind closed doors that they have exited these positions without major financial impairments.

This does not mean that renewables or offshore wind should not be built it just means that the regime around how sites are awarded, and how power purchase contracts are made need to be reworked.

A lot of the world is struggling with this (recently UK re-tendered for Mona lease area with much more favourable conditions than r4 initial lease).

Generally speaking I think the best approach would be to have almost zero / nominal lease fee, then have a competitive auction around a two sided CFD - if the market price is below the strike price the state makes up the difference, if the market price is above the strike price the excess goes back to the state.

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

#528

Post by inopinatus »

zmmmmm wrote: post #310

I read up recently on the history of the fall of the roman empire and it was fascinating how eerily similar it was to the current state of the US. Overwhelmed by corruption and wars they make stupider and stupider decisions on ever larger scales, ever more frequently. And the population grows ever more cynical, eventually opting for authoritarianism before eventually the center can't hold any more and it all collapse…

The falcon cannot hear the falconer.

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

#529

Post by Rohansi »

zer00eyz wrote: post #203
gilrain wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your contingency plan for if the groundwork that has been laid to falsify election results works? Wait harder? The ethical US has rolled over already.

> falsify election results This is something that is extremely hard to accomplish in the US. It would be akin to all of Europe voting on the same day and trying to falsify an election in each country. The logistics of this means that you need a lot of participants, and someone is going to blow it (and the whole thing unravels). That is not the same as interfering: Jackboots at the polls, screwing with the mail, ID re…

Falsifying votes is different from falsifying election results. All of the misinformation being thrown around exists to cast doubt on the voting system to not trust the results. So you vote, it gets tallied up, and if the result is not what you want, blame it on the supposed flaws in the voting system. The people who believe that misinformation come to your defense.

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

#530

Post by usefulcat »

perpetuallunch wrote: post #477
esskay wrote: post #420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What "world order" is this? One where cheap energy generation is seen as a good thing? Bizarre that anyone would be against a private company building solar or wind farms in this day and age. For a guy in the ai and cybersecurity industry you seem to have incredibly poor judgement Gyan.

Provide one example where solar and / or wind generation have penetrated a market to a level worth mentioning and electricity prices have come down or remained stable adjusted for inflation.

Solar and wind account for a significant portion of electric generation in Texas.
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