This week, the US Government held an auction for major wind projects in the Gulf of Mexico. There’s bad news: The US Interior Department tried to lease out three wind blocks in the Gulf of Mexico off the shores of Texas and Louisiana. There were zero bids for the two wind blocks in Texas.
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There was one bid for the Louisiana wind block.
The Louisiana wind block went to a German company for about 1% of the normal offshore wind price.
- Why would we sell our energy production rights to Germany?
- Why would we do that for 1% of market value?
- Why would we sell our sovereignty for any price? Isn’t energy independence critical to national security?
- Does national security matter?
- What happens when you don’t have it?
According to a senior wind analyst at the energy intelligence firm Wood Mackenzie, the reason why the US Government got that paltry amount is that the wind doesn’t always blow and sometimes the wind blows too much.
That is especially true in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s also true the seafloor in the Gulf of Mexico is notoriously soft and silty which raises the cost of sinking wind turbines and keeping them in place.
If the Louisiana deal goes through, utility companies and residents in that state will be paying upwards of $150 per megawatt hour for this energy. That is about double the average for similar offshore projects, according to the outlet Semafor. This means offshore wind is around $75 to $100 per megawatt hour, give or take.
Now, compare that to nuclear at $60 or coal at $50 per megawatt hour.
If market forces were at play here, no off-shore wind projects would be built. We would not build off-shore wind projects because of how comparatively expensive they are.
So why is it that we are paying $75 to $100 per megawatt hour for the average wind power facility when we could be going with nuclear at $60 or coal at $50 per megawatt hour? It sure seems like we would want to keep our electric bills down.
Well, here is one reason. States like New York, Massachusetts, California, New Hampshire, and others mandate utilities serving their jurisdiction buy this expensive stuff. The legislated mandates, followed by utility companies, are then passed off to you, the ratepayer, in your electric bill.
State and federal governments are forcing the economics of offshore wind to work. This is a masked use of governmental taxation power against you. The government is forcing you to pay more for an essential good than you otherwise would be willing to pay.
This means your politicians, by subsidizing or mandating or both, are forcing the adoption of high-priced wind energy. That is why there was one non-market rate bid for that Louisiana project. That’s why, analysts say, the upcoming bids for offshore projects in Oregon and Maine are expected to do better. How are you going to do any worse?
The states of Maine and Oregon, these states are Leftist controlled. They have mandates and subsidies legislatively in place. That means, eventually, the cost of those mandates and subsidies does get passed down to you, the electric rate payer.
Like it or not, your government is forcing you to pay more than is necessary for electricity. Can you do without electricity? So the next time you hear an offshore wind farm argument, keep that in mind. There is a lot of political funny business going on in the offshore wind power business, and you are going to be sent the bill for the decision-making that certainly should be controversial.
You are going to unnecessarily, “voluntarily,” have to pay exorbitant electric rates. You are going to pay excessively for something you cannot do without. Not only that, you will need more of it if you have an EV than you do today.
Leadership requires courage, commitment, communication, and competence. It is being an effective communicator with a clear purpose, a well-defined role, a clear understanding of who you serve, what your values are, and authenticity in presentation. Who are your representatives working for?
Does political leadership today provide the best possible service at the lowest practicable cost… to you today? Why are your electric rates the highest in the nation? Are you getting a competitive advantage from their actions? What are these governmental actions doing to your future?
If you want to shiver in the dark because you cannot afford the electricity to light and heat your home, and you’re not going to work because you cannot afford to charge the car’s battery, our state and federal energy strategy is working. Remember, if they sell it, you “will” buy it. They do not tolerate debate.
