Back in November of last year, California was forced to greatly restrict its solar subsidies that allowed homeowners with already-subsidized solar panels to sell unused and worthless solar energy back to the grid at near retail prices.
That's one hell of a curve. Now when does the green lobby start pushing the idea of huge home battery banks to store the useless electricity to be redeployed at night? It has to be next, with CA subsidizing the purchase of those to save Mother Gaia. They won't stop because politicians can hide their stupidity from a pliant citizenry until state level bankruptcy occurs.
It is very hard for me to have any sympathy for those people that got rich illegitimately at other people’s expense. I am glad these creeps are going broke. They are not much better than drug dealers.
Thank you for this excellent summary, Thomas. Another problem with California solar (or wind) is that it does not contribute necessary synchronous grid inertia (SGI) to the California electric power grid. See this article from March, 2024: https://greennuke.substack.com/p/why-is-grid-inertia-important
But it gets worse! California must pay adjacent states to take California's useless solar power at the time when those states are also producing useless solar power. The costs of curtailment are substantial.
Annual California Curtailment Costs
Year MWh "Approximate Annual Cost ($)"
2018 461,054 $1,000,000,000
2019 961,343 $2,090,000,000
2020 1,587,497 $3,440,000,000
2021 1,504,840 $3,260,000,000
2022 2,449,247 $5,310,000,000
2023 2,659,527 $5,770,000,000
2024 2,827,489 $6,130,000,000
Total 13,399,762 $27,000,000,000
Data to June, 2024
CGNP estimated that the curtailment costs were equal to the 2018 payments to adjacent states cited by then-California Assemblyman Brian Dahle during floor speeches on SB 100.
This is why these economically-damaging policies occur......Here's one example of a well-heeled elite who admitted circa 2014 he is on the gravy train at taxpayer expense. (Buffett's father was a four-term U.S. Representative from Nebraska.) Multi-billionaire Warren Buffett explained the rationale for solar and wind generation in 2014:
"For example, on wind energy, we get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. That's the only reason to build them. They don't make sense without the tax credit."
"Big Wind's Bogus Subsidies - Giving tax credits to the wind energy industry is a waste of time and money."
By Nancy Pfotenhauer, Contributor | May 12, 2014, at 2:30 p.m US News & World Report
So they were paying the homeowners for excess solar produced electricity that they didn't need and then also paying other states to take it? What a great system.
Sadly, this scam persists. Per CAISO in June, 2024 California has 19,628 MW of solar generation and 8,352 MW of wind. None of this total 27,980 MW is dispatchable (i.e. under human control.) This generation cost tens of billions to construct. It is a key reason why California electricity prices are typically the highest per kWh in the continental U.S. With the taxpayer-funded subsidies, the California power grid is now one of the least reliable under the control of an ISO. CGNP believes that the plan is to increase the import of mostly coal-fired power from Wyoming via CAISO regionalization, but "greenwash" it with big promotions of solar and wind, just like in Germany. This plan has the potential to squeeze out nuclear generation in the American West, just as in Germany. Germany has some of the most expensive power in Europe. California power prices would also increase to defray the approximately $20 billion cost of building out a massive electric power transmission system from Wyoming to California. See the GreenNUKE Substack at https://greennuke.substack.com/ for details.
That's one hell of a curve. Now when does the green lobby start pushing the idea of huge home battery banks to store the useless electricity to be redeployed at night? It has to be next, with CA subsidizing the purchase of those to save Mother Gaia. They won't stop because politicians can hide their stupidity from a pliant citizenry until state level bankruptcy occurs.
It is very hard for me to have any sympathy for those people that got rich illegitimately at other people’s expense. I am glad these creeps are going broke. They are not much better than drug dealers.
Sunpower was the biggest, but there were many smaller solar installers that have gone out of business too.
Thank you for this excellent summary, Thomas. Another problem with California solar (or wind) is that it does not contribute necessary synchronous grid inertia (SGI) to the California electric power grid. See this article from March, 2024: https://greennuke.substack.com/p/why-is-grid-inertia-important
But it gets worse! California must pay adjacent states to take California's useless solar power at the time when those states are also producing useless solar power. The costs of curtailment are substantial.
Annual California Curtailment Costs
Year MWh "Approximate Annual Cost ($)"
2018 461,054 $1,000,000,000
2019 961,343 $2,090,000,000
2020 1,587,497 $3,440,000,000
2021 1,504,840 $3,260,000,000
2022 2,449,247 $5,310,000,000
2023 2,659,527 $5,770,000,000
2024 2,827,489 $6,130,000,000
Total 13,399,762 $27,000,000,000
Data to June, 2024
CGNP estimated that the curtailment costs were equal to the 2018 payments to adjacent states cited by then-California Assemblyman Brian Dahle during floor speeches on SB 100.
This is why these economically-damaging policies occur......Here's one example of a well-heeled elite who admitted circa 2014 he is on the gravy train at taxpayer expense. (Buffett's father was a four-term U.S. Representative from Nebraska.) Multi-billionaire Warren Buffett explained the rationale for solar and wind generation in 2014:
"For example, on wind energy, we get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. That's the only reason to build them. They don't make sense without the tax credit."
"Big Wind's Bogus Subsidies - Giving tax credits to the wind energy industry is a waste of time and money."
By Nancy Pfotenhauer, Contributor | May 12, 2014, at 2:30 p.m US News & World Report
https://tinyurl.com/Buffett-Wind-Scam
- A more accurate economic description of solar power is an elaborate, socially-sanctioned Ponzi Scheme.
So they were paying the homeowners for excess solar produced electricity that they didn't need and then also paying other states to take it? What a great system.
Sadly, this scam persists. Per CAISO in June, 2024 California has 19,628 MW of solar generation and 8,352 MW of wind. None of this total 27,980 MW is dispatchable (i.e. under human control.) This generation cost tens of billions to construct. It is a key reason why California electricity prices are typically the highest per kWh in the continental U.S. With the taxpayer-funded subsidies, the California power grid is now one of the least reliable under the control of an ISO. CGNP believes that the plan is to increase the import of mostly coal-fired power from Wyoming via CAISO regionalization, but "greenwash" it with big promotions of solar and wind, just like in Germany. This plan has the potential to squeeze out nuclear generation in the American West, just as in Germany. Germany has some of the most expensive power in Europe. California power prices would also increase to defray the approximately $20 billion cost of building out a massive electric power transmission system from Wyoming to California. See the GreenNUKE Substack at https://greennuke.substack.com/ for details.
Great points!