Tom Shepstone
Shepstone Management Company, Inc.
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Andrew Cuomo, a/k/a Governor Curruptocrat, is engaged in some nonsense that can only be described as the Cuomo Energy Follies.
Governor Corruptocrat has been on a renewables tear lately, hoping to set up himself as the Big Green Giant in a run for 2020 it seems. He proposes his Emperor State generate 50% of its electricity from renewable sources in 13 years. Meanwhile, according to the New York grid operator, NYISO, New York already gets 56% of its electricity from projects using gas and 70% of new projects propose to use it. Like all things New York; watch what they do, not what they say.
New York claims to get 25% of its electricity from renewables, making Cuomo’s target a seemingly feasible goal. Read the details, though, and one learns hydro accounts for literally 80% of that. That power was created in the days when Robert Moses could build dams and no one could stop him, which isn’t going to happen again. Hydro isn’t going to grow. Therefore, solar and wind need to grow that much more. The inevitable result is the Cuomo energy follies; a laughable display of bullying and cronyism for those of us lucky enough to live outside of New York.
New York State depends on natural gas and will continue to do so. They’ll scarcely admit it, though, and Governor Corruptocrat is determined to play to a set of politically correct voters too naive to realize what’s happening. There are just too many political opportunities and too much graft to be had doing it. So, he’s pushing solar and wind with ludicrous projects that would embarrass even Moses, the original Power Broker.
One of those is the Lighthouse Wind project, which the great Robert Bryce writes about in a City Journal article cleverly titled “Where the Bully Winds Blow.” Bryce lays out the battle that’s taking place in Western New York over the project (locals are strongly opposed). It will occupy 20,000 acres of land to create roughly 200 megawatts of capacity. Applying the one-third capacity factor typical of wind suggests the project will really generate only about 65-70 megawatts of power, less than ¾ of one percent of that needed by New York homeowners, to say nothing of business, industry and transportation. Worse, Bryce notes the following:
In July, the New York Independent System Operator estimated that meeting Cuomo’s 50-percent target will require another 3,500 megawatts of onshore wind-energy capacity. That means adding 17 projects the size of Lighthouse Wind. In addition, the NYISO estimates New York will have to install nearly 10,000 megawatts of new solar capacity—an amount roughly equal to the existing solar capacity of Spain and Australia combined. Where does Albany plan to put all those renewable-energy projects? In rural areas, of course.
We can also, of course, expect all those concerns about environmental impacts and rural “industrialization” we’ve heard regarding natural gas development will be tossed to the wind with this example of the Cuomo energy follies. This is how it works in New York. It’s all about making a show, rewarding cronies and pretending things are happening that aren’t. Meanwhile, boondoggles such as SolarCity and the Lighthouse Wind consume subsidies and reward the corrupt politicos offering them. And, natural gas just keeps working for New York even as Governor Corruptocrat does all he can to frustrate it for public effect.
So far, Rip Van Cuomo hasn’t stopped heating his mansions with that good clean, hydro fracked natural gas that’s being piped in from Pennsylvania. What a phony!
“Like all things New York; watch what they do, not what they say.”
Sad but true!!!!!!!
I wonder – how much gas, used either as gas or to make 56% of our electricity, is fracked gas? The citizens probably have no clue, and should be told how much……I’m sure it’s a very high percentage.
And where one wonders is the great Robert Bryce “reporting” from? Ah Texas and via the manhattan institute. So? Not really reporting rifht?
https://mobile.twitter.com/pwrhungry?
I saw there is opposition to this proposal and then a lawsuit already re: the offhsore wind project. Not surprising. But covered in the news.
So far though in ny state and city outside of a local Rockaway blogger I have seen no coverage on Williams North East supply enhancement act. Weird huh? Especially when one considers it seems like a replacement or alternative for the port ambrose lng import project which antifracking activists and others claimed was actually a secret export project. Reporters didn’t fail to cover the export conspiracy theory.
http://co.williams.com/expansionprojects/northeast-supply-enhancement/
Why don’t renewable energy activists ever talk about hydro energy ?? It’s far more efficient than wind and solar and there’s no CO2 emissions from it once built. And just like the sun and wind the water is free. I would choose it over wind and solar and right after natural gas.
We do.
NY is about 85% penetrated by hydro, and it plays a major role in the NY CES.
Maybe The Wall street crooks will start funding a hydro electric program?
It should prove more profitable than pipelines?
And a lot of us already pay a little extra on our bill for hydro.
The only true renewable!!!
Todays Press and Sun Bulletin featured a story about the removal of a hydro plant and dam in Hogansburg, NY near the Akwesasne Mohawk reservation…. Check that off of the renewables list. I also know of at least 3 waste to energy plants that operate in New York State. They are part of the renewable energy component.
Lets try that one out. It’s the truth but it will never fly. “New York needs more trash burning plants”.
The sad thing is that NY doesn’t have much opportunity for additional hydro, as I understand things. You need significant rivers with volume and short-run elevation falls, and those are severely lacking. The variability of NY’s smaller rivers (NOT the Niagara or St. Lawrence) has got to be a factor also. People remember when the smaller rivers flood and think they are “plenty big” but the reality is that 99.5% of the time they are at far-lower flows.
I was the operator of a “900 kW” nameplate-capacity facility for 3 years. But on average, it only could make 195 kW, and was a foolish way to wrongly-invest $2 million (in 1992).
You can’t sensibly build a facility to take advantage of a ‘hump’ in hydrology that occurs for only maybe 1 or 2 months a year at spring runoff. I have a lot to teach about hydrology, bad economic/hydrologic analyses, and the reasons you can rarely economically build “small hydro” projects. But not in this forum!
let’s not get distracted by hydro… new hydro will never happen and including many decades old Niagara Falls power to artificially inflate how green NY is is just a shell game.
as Tom S points out, Cuomo’s energy “policy” is based entirely on deception and politically correct pandering. upstaters are but serfs to that %^&*…. he plans to force us to bear the visual blight of feeding NYC it’s shiny new expensive unreliable power.