The Wind Farm Money Pit

According to a new study by University of Utah and Strata Policy (a think tank) researchers, the cost of wind power relative to what the government is telling you is up to 48% more than estimates. Moreover the subsidies for wind power generation that come out of our taxpayer pockets amounts to over $5 Billion:

In the US this amounts to an annual $5 billion per year in Production Tax Credits (PTC). Here is money that could have been spent on education, healthcare, defense or, indeed, which could have been left in the pockets of taxpayers to spend as they prefer.

Instead it has been squandered on bribing rent-seeking crony-capitalists to carpet the landscape with bat-chomping, bird-slicing eco-crucifixes to produce energy so intermittent that it is often unavailable when needed most (on very hot or very cold days when demand for air-conditioning or heating is high) and only too available on other occasions when a glut means that wind producers actually have to pay utilities to accept their unwanted energy. This phenomenon, known as “negative pricing”, is worthwhile to wind producers because they only get their subsidy credits when they are producing power (whether it is needed or not). But clearly not worthwhile to the people who end up footing the bill: ie taxpayers.

The wind generation business is less reliable, more expensive and must be backed up by conventional generation methods continually on standby. There are myriad other quirks in the industry such as killing things that fly, making scenic landscapes an eyesore and causing anxieties to nearby residents.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world, Austrailia canceled all subsidies to wind-produced energy in that nation. The whackos in state and federal positions that dictate energy policy stateside have yet to realize how expensive and pointless wind energy production has become.