Europe's wind energy plan runs into a dead calm

[Valin]

Hot Air

Jazz Shaw

Sep 14, 2021

There was a new round of unpleasant news for consumers in the United Kingdom this month and for once it didn’t have anything to do with COVID. Residents receiving their energy bills were shocked to see a steep increase in the price of electricity. We’re not talking a small percentage, either. Costs were double what they had been in previous months and more than four times higher than during the same period in 2020. But how could that be? The country has been investing heavily in renewable energy to meet its obligations under the climate deal and many new wind-power stations had come online, allowing them to idle many fossil fuel plants. Then the disappointing news arrived. Energy was at a premium because their renewable sources were slumping significantly. So what went wrong? It’s fairly simple. The winds on the North Sea (where most of the wind plants are) had simply stopped blowing. (Wall Street Journal, subscription required)

(Snip)

 

[Valin]

Ha Ha!

Steven Hayward

Sept. 13 2021

This is the kind of “well, duh!” headline that sends me to the bar early:

 

Quote

Natural gas and electricity markets were already surging in Europe when a fresh catalyst emerged: The wind in the stormy North Sea stopped blowing.

The sudden slowdown in wind-driven electricity production off the coast of the U.K. in recent weeks whipsawed through regional energy markets. Gas and coal-fired electricity plants were called in to make up the shortfall from wind.

Natural-gas prices, already boosted by the pandemic recovery and a lack of fuel in storage caverns and tanks, hit all-time highs. Thermal coal, long shunned for its carbon emissions, has emerged from a long price slump as utilities are forced to turn on backup power sources.

The wind “stops blowing.” Who would have thought that might happen? Funny how when “green energy” gets into trouble, the backup is always those evil fossil fuels that can be turned up quickly, scale up large, and dispatched where needed on the grid.

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Who would have thought that might happen?

Oct. 5 2011

The Manhattan Institute is proud to present the first in a series of animated videos created by Andrew Klavan, City Journal contributing editor and creator of "Klavan on the Culture."

Who Indeed.