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California's renewable-energy plans may hinge on presidential race
Los Angeles Times ^ | October 10, 2012 | By Evan Halper

Posted on 10/11/2012 5:27:04 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

Players big and small in the state's rapidly growing industry worry a Romney win will strip them of federal subsidies they say are key to clean energy's future.

SACRAMENTO — On 7,300 isolated acres in eastern Kern County, a plan for dozens of wind turbines 20 stories high to generate enough electricity for tens of thousands of homes may hinge on who is elected president.

Millions of dollars have been spent laying the groundwork. Permits are in order, contractors are lined up, government planners are on board. But like many other green energy efforts in California, the Avalon Wind Project awaits the fate of key federal subsidies.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: election2012; failure; green; porkulus

1 posted on 10/11/2012 5:27:10 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Let another money laundering begin.


2 posted on 10/11/2012 5:37:51 AM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I’ve always wondered about the removal of defunct wind turbines. Is there a fund put aside by the companies to take them down or will they become an environmental slum?


3 posted on 10/11/2012 5:38:24 AM PDT by stars & stripes forever (Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

I’ve always wondered about the removal of defunct wind turbines. Is there a fund put aside by the companies to take them down or will they become an environmental slum?


4 posted on 10/11/2012 5:38:42 AM PDT by stars & stripes forever (Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
This is God's way of telling you your projects MAKE NO ECONOMIC SENSE.

About a third of Avalon's construction costs would be covered by the credit, amounting to many millions of dollars.

"The impact would be devastating," he said. "The number of wind projects we would build would just plummet."

Those in the wind industry are particularly anxious: Their two-decade-old production credit, which costs taxpayers about $1 billion annually, expires at year's end. The next president will have to decide whether to try to work with Congress to extend it.

5 posted on 10/11/2012 5:40:08 AM PDT by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Note: If federal subsidies are the key to your future you have a crap business model.


6 posted on 10/11/2012 5:43:46 AM PDT by jdsteel (Give me freedom, not more government.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

There is no limit to the stupidity of liberals....except when they are journalist liberals.

This is one of the biggest piles of bull-Obama that I’ve seen this week.


7 posted on 10/11/2012 6:14:57 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Romney win will strip them of federal taxpayer funded subsidies they say are key to clean energy's future.

I've corrected the quote above. But beyond that, if clean energy was the "whiz bang, golly gee whiz" technology all the green folks would have us believe, wouldn't private investors be beating down to door to get some?

8 posted on 10/11/2012 6:15:00 AM PDT by upchuck (I miss my dog Snoopy. May 16, 1997-September 24, 2012 -- 15 years, 4 months. Forever in my heart.)
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To: stars & stripes forever

-——or will they become an environmental slum?——

They could already be said to be an environmental slum

I visited California in May. The area around Palm Springs has lots and lots of wind turbines. The new ones are supported by tall cylindrical columns. The much older and shorter ones are supported by structural steel frames with four legs and truss like bracing.

The latter are fading and even rusting. What’s more, by actual count in some arrays, as many as 30% were not working even in a stiff wind. I stopped and pulled over to grasp the situation.

In California the force is strong and the delusion is greater


9 posted on 10/11/2012 6:27:14 AM PDT by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 ..... Present failure and impending death yield irrational action))
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Not just in California, but Texas also.

Texas is in the process of building 2000 miles plus of transmission line to carry windpower from west Texas and the panhandle to San Antonio/Austin and DFW.

If Romney/GOP cuts off the subsidy there will be far fewer windfarms built and the Texas ratepayers will be stuck with the bill.

10 posted on 10/11/2012 6:34:57 AM PDT by Ben Ficklin
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To: stars & stripes forever

Take a drive through Altamont pass east of Oakland some time. It’s a cemetery for old (non-functioning) turbines. Still standing, not turning.


11 posted on 10/11/2012 6:39:00 AM PDT by Straight8
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To: stars & stripes forever

All surface (strip) mines require “reclamation bonds” to restore the land to its original state prior to mining. Rep. Morris Udall was an original sponsor of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977.

To my knowledge, there are no such reclamation bonds for wind turbines. Can you imagine the junkyard we are going to have when these things reach the end of their useful lives in 20 to 40 years?

This has already happened in California once. The federal and state gravy train ended once and many machines rusted to a halt. The Altamont Pass was littered with hulking wind junk, a monument to our stupidity.

It will definitely happen again.


12 posted on 10/11/2012 6:46:26 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: Straight8; bert
Altamont Pass wind is still operating.

They began building those in the early 1980s so they are all smaller and old technology.

They are gradually being replaced with newer/larger. The 5400 smaller will ultimately be replaced with 2400 larger.

13 posted on 10/11/2012 6:56:37 AM PDT by Ben Ficklin
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To: bert
They could already be said to be an environmental slum

Could the same be said about the acres and acres of defunct solar panels encased in cement that 'litter' the dessert?

14 posted on 10/11/2012 7:02:08 AM PDT by stars & stripes forever (Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord!)
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To: jdsteel

It’s crap for the rest of us, but genius for them. Safer than stealing, lazier than pimping, and so, so much easier than competing in the marketplace.


15 posted on 10/11/2012 7:25:44 AM PDT by stop_fascism (Love your country, but never trust its government - R.A. Heinlein)
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To: Ben Ficklin

Why shouldn’t rate payers be “stuck” with the bill? They’re using the electricity, shouldn’t they pay for it?


16 posted on 10/11/2012 7:29:06 AM PDT by stop_fascism (Love your country, but never trust its government - R.A. Heinlein)
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To: stop_fascism
"shouldn't they pay for it"

Yes, but if they pay for it and no wind farms are built, the rate payer will have pay again for an alternative source.

17 posted on 10/11/2012 7:38:26 AM PDT by Ben Ficklin
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To: Ben Ficklin

I’m sorry. It’s early and I’m not following. If the Federal subsidy is cut off, why wouldn’t the local utilities build the wind farms, assuming the farms are the most cost effective way to generate power. Why would an alternative source be needed? If the alternative source is built, isn’t it using the funding that would have been spent on the wind farm? Why do you say that the rate payers have to pay again?


18 posted on 10/11/2012 7:50:06 AM PDT by stop_fascism (Love your country, but never trust its government - R.A. Heinlein)
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To: stop_fascism
Its somewhat complicated and some of that is because Texas operates differently.

Ratepayers pay for the electricity they use. And in Texas the price of electricity is tied to the price of natural gas.

OTOH, the price of a capital investment like a transmission line is passed on to the rate payer in the form of a charge added to the utility bill which is seperate from their electricity. In this particular case, each ratepayer will be paying $4/month for those transmission lines.

So, if no windfarms are built or fewer windfarms are built, other gas or coal plants will have to be built and they will need transmisiion lines also. Those costs will also be passed on to the ratepayer.

The loss of the federal wind subsidy plus the present low cost of natural gas is a double whammy for a wind generator.

19 posted on 10/11/2012 8:19:16 AM PDT by Ben Ficklin
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