Windpower Alberta

[LEP]

I'm not so sure that the .80 applied to wind.

That .80 cent thing was the early price paid for some solar installs. I know a lot of guys around here put up those 10KW jobbies and are very happy - repeat - very happy with the return.

Why not, at a 90% subsidy rate? Imagine getting $10/bu for soys and then another cheque for $90/bu.

But we almost went into meltdown a while ago at the coffee shop when one of them said that he would never do it for his own electrical needs because he couldn't afford it.

Got pretty quiet when I asked him why he thought the rest of us could...

The gov't was not expecting so many to sign up for that so after a few years it was cut back to .60 or something like that.

Don't take my figures as being right accurate though, but I know they're close.

Yes that's right it was solar. Sorry.

[tweety]

Well it is an estimate after all

[Blaithin]

The whole idea is bonkers but the FACTS are never clearly stated, what a money losing fiasco!
They only last 15 years, then fall down, if not earlier. Huge upkeep costs to CHINESE bearings etc.
What a pile of scrap iron.
There are pics already of worn out broken ones in USA, have any pics?
Hope they have a recycle fee too pay Gov?

The first airplanes had short lifespans too. Yet engineers learnt from each model and improved on the designs until you arrive now, 100 years later, functioning airplanes for much longer.

Can’t leant and improve upon something unless you work on it. Look at original trestle turbines. They are the ones that had high bird mortalities because birds would nest and hunt from the trestles. Engineers learnt from that, designs were modified, no more trestles, no more nesting birds.

I live at a wind farm. Going on seven years old. They look pretty good for being half way through their lives. Remind me in 7 more years to let you know how they’re still going.

[grassfarmer]

Don't come on here posting your facts Blaithin, they don't like facts around here!

[LEP]

Personally, I don't have a problem with adding solar and wind as long as they keep existing gas and coal as backup.

If they can get contractors to sign up for 1.7 or 3.6 cents per kw then I'm all in.

Just don't tell me to abandon existing generation capacity for seasonal capacity plus a backup.

[poorboy]

What about the rest of the costs?

In Alberta our power bill is made up of the energy cost, the transmission cost, the distribution cost, a hokus pocus thing called a “rate rider”, and of course administration cost.

The energy cost is usually the insignificant part of the bill. The transmission and distribution costs are the huge numbers and are never mentioned by news media. How are wind and solar transmission and distribution costs calculated? Same as conventional power or 5x higher???

[tweety]

Very good point poorboy. The "cost of generation" is very different then the "cost at my receptacle"

[RWT101]

Here's an interesting graphic on electricity utility debt in Canada.


[URL="http://boereport.com/2016/03/08/albertas-early-phase-out-of-coal-creates-risk-of-utility-debt/"]http://boereport.com/2016/03/08/albertas-early-phase-out-of-coal-creates-risk-of-utility-debt/[/URL]



Apparently the Ab govt has decided that $1.36 bil is not too much to pay to shut down the perfectly good coal plants early.


Ah yes. It is the old commie ideology vs common sense fiasco again from the No Damn Prosperity girls.

Where's the next Ralph Klein when you really need him?

[AlbertaFarmer5]

In Alberta our power bill is made up of the energy cost, the transmission cost, the distribution cost, a hokus pocus thing called a “rate rider”, and of course administration cost.

The energy cost is usually the insignificant part of the bill. The transmission and distribution costs are the huge numbers and are never mentioned by news media. How are wind and solar transmission and distribution costs calculated? Same as conventional power or 5x higher???

Is there any way that adding more of a less reliable and less consistent power source will not cause those fixed costs to increase, regardless of how cheap it is to produce that power source when the wind is blowing? Which as already noted, is the larger portion of the cost of a power bill. There is likely more to the story than simply the cost of generation.

[grassfarmer]

Is there any way that adding more of a less reliable and less consistent power source will not cause those fixed costs to increase, regardless of how cheap it is to produce that power source when the wind is blowing? Which as already noted, is the larger portion of the cost of a power bill. There is likely more to the story than simply the cost of generation.

Have you guys forgotten what took in place in AB? The Conservative Government and the powerline scandal which met strong opposition in my area led by Joe Anglin. This is what you are paying for with your high transmission charges etc.

Here is an extract with the rest of the article linked below:

"Unique in North America

Toronto lawyer Donald Bur confirms that assessment. Bur, who has represented landowners against Alberta's electrical regulators, calls the whole situation unique in North American politics. The $16-billion plan has no precedent or parallel on the continent, adds Bur.

In fact no other jurisdiction has proposed to build eight times its existing transmission infrastructure at taxpayers' expense with no public needs assessment, explains Bur. Nor has any other jurisdiction then proposed to give away the infrastructure to two private transmission companies (Atco and AltaLink) along with a promised rate of return of nine per cent. And mostly to enhance power exports to the United States."

[URL="http://thetyee.ca/News/2011/02/08/AlbertaElectricity/"]http://https://thetyee.ca/News/2011/02/08/AlbertaElectricity/[/URL]