The Biden administration is continuing its renewable energy push while Americans face record-high prices at the gas pump.
Last week, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced plans to move forward with two of California’s first-ever offshore wind power grids, located near coastal cities Humboldt and Morro Bay. [bold, links added]
But, one environmental and energy expert sent a warning that turbines might not be as efficient as the administration thinks.
“For a solar farm or wind farm, you need to spread that thing out over so many hundreds of square kilometers, and that’s your problem,” Fraser Institute Senior Fellow Cornelis van Kooten told FOX Business’ Kelly O’Grady.
Another issue the expert raised surrounds wind turbine efficiency. According to the Energy Information Administration, turbines ran at 44% capacity in March 2021 but barely reached 23% capacity in July.
“You have to also then have extra transmission lines and all those kinds of things that go into it,” Kooten explained. “And those create problems for the grid and for delivering power.”
Biden’s wind power plan has the potential to unlock 4.5 gigawatts of energy – enough to power more than 1.5 million homes.
But, each turbine only produces 2 to 3 megawatts with a minimum of two acres of space. In comparison, a compact plant produces thousands of megawatts per hour.
Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki had noted the U.S. needs to decrease its reliance on foreign oil by switching over to renewable energy, not increasing domestic production.
Read rest at Fox Business
Based upon Politics and Junk Science not reality and politics as well just like this whole Global Warming/Climate Change is based upon
There’s no fool like a lying old fool! USA cannot transition to renewable energy because there’s nothing to transition to; no large, comparable, reliable energy source and no infrastructure for support and delivery. Brandon is the founder of the Sado-Fascist party–Everyone must be abused and love every minute because he says so!
Well, when you refuse to factor in energy/power density & cost into your analysis, you get BAD ideas like this offshore wind “push.” You could locate combined cycle natural gas plants near existing transmission infrastructure and you’d have a LOT cheaper and more reliable source of dispatchable power. Looking into some modular nuclear units, suitably sited, would also make a lot more sense if your goal was cost effectiveness & increased grid reliability. Alas, when you are driven by ideology rather than actual SCIENCE & engineering, you go off on flights of “fancy”…