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US Firms Race Fiscal Cliff To Install Wind Turbines
Hugh Pickens writes "BBC reports that U.S. energy companies are racing to install wind turbines before a federal tax credit expires at the end of this year which could be lost as Congress struggles with new legislation to avoid the 'fiscal cliff.' 'There's a lot of rushing right now to get projects completed by the end of the year,' says Rob Gramlich, senior vice president at the American Wind Energy Association. 'There's a good chance we could get this extension, it is very hard to predict, but the industry is not making bets on the Congress getting it done,' Even if there is an extension there is likely to be a significant curtailment of wind installations in 2013. From 1999 to 2004, Congress allowed the wind energy production tax credit to expire three times, each time retroactively extending it several months after the expiration deadline had passed, but wind energy companies say they need longer time frames to negotiate deals to sell the power they generate. 'Even if the tax credit is extended, our new construction plans likely will be ramped back substantially in 2013 compared with the last few years,' says Paul Copleman. 'So much time has passed without certainty that a normal one-year extension would not be a game-changer for our 2013 build plans.'"
All this hot wind about tax credits... I think it will break soon. And this whole thing will blow over.
Rent seeking, meet regulatory capture.
when politicians seek to tax them.
Dog is my co-pilot.
has become the US Congress. Never have I seen so many get paid so much to do so little. They better wake up soon, otherwise a torch bearing mob may did it for them.
"To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
The US Congress is just pathetic.
A perfect reflection of the people that voted for them. What's to complain about?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
A perfect reflection of the people that voted for them.
Actually, it demonstrably isn't. Some reasons why:
1. Gerrymandering. For example, the party that got the most votes won't hold the most seats in Congress come the next term.
2. This is a lame duck session. So it's actually a reflection of the electorate from 2 years ago, not the current electorate.
3. The "money primary", where candidates must impress potential donors to even have a chance of impressing the electorate, ensures that proposals that might hurt large donors are never even considered.
There are many opinions widely held by the American public that are nowhere near actually getting through Congress. For instance, a majority of Americans would approve the federal legalization of marijuana, but such a proposal has never even come close to getting a floor vote in Congress.
I am officially gone from
It's just another made-up name to mislead and / or scare the bejeezus out of people. Just like PATRIOT Act (patriot == good, cliff == bad). The world will still be here tomorrow no matter what happens.
Everyone under the sun is racing to get deals done before the new year. It's not just one tax credit.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
Let's not forget that Democrats gerrymander too. Maryland is the Texas of the Mid-Atlantic when it comes to gerrymandering and quashing dissenting viewpoints.
No one said "Republicans gerrymandered" so why do you feel the need to pretend they did?
IIRC, to qualify for the credit the blades need to make 1 full rotation before the end of year. So you might invest in some overtime, focus on getting those near completion done, skip the cosmetics like paint or hooking it up to the grid until next year.
Could be a problem........
From The Telegraph:
"Wind farm turbines wear sooner than expected, says study
The analysis of almost 3,000 onshore wind turbines — the biggest study of its kind —warns that they will continue to generate electricity effectively for just 12 to 15 years.
The wind energy industry and the Government base all their calculations on turbines enjoying a lifespan of 20 to 25 years.
The study estimates that routine wear and tear will more than double the cost of electricity being produced by wind farms in the next decade."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/9770837/Wind-farm-turbines-wear-sooner-than-expected-says-study.html
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
Outright legalization failed in CA because it wouldn't have changed the federal situation while simultaneously making it illegal to make a profit growing or selling pot in CA.
The only legal form of pot growing operation under the new law would certainly have drawn the DEA. Hence it made all growing impractical if staying out of federal prison was on your todo list.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
They are not struggling over anything. It's just a big Dick waving contest. With the largest Penis, Mister Speaker of the house, Boner him self, causing most of the problems.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
That doesn't invalidate my first point in any way whatsoever.
Pretend there is a country with 2 political parties, one called the Snoods and the other called the Whelks, who are being elected to fill a 435-seat Congress. In the last election, 50.3% of the public voted for Snoods, and 49.7% voted for Whelks. If the representation had matched the popular vote, that would have meant that there would be 219 Snoods and 216 Whelks. But in fact, thanks to gerrymandering, there are 201 Snoods and 234 Whelks, meaning that there's an 18-seat discrepancy between the voter's desires and who is actually seated in our Congress. And that makes Congress not representative, because it means that Congress will be trying to implement Whelk policy rather than Snood policy, even though the voters stated a slight preference for Snood policy.
And that argument holds true no matter whether "Snoods" actually means "Democrats" or "Republicans".
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I'm just basing that assertion on poll numbers like these: Public Policy Polling, Gallup.
I am officially gone from
You reasons are why the voters are so pathetic that they depend on everything being spoon fed to them by mass media instead of seeking out a better person for the job. If they want congress to represent a different opinion, they have to vote for people that will do that and vote out those who don't. They have to learn to ignore the bling. It's pretty straightforward.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
I'm not trying to invalidate your point -- I'm pointing out that gerrymandering is gleefully done by both parties and without apology, not just the side who happens to have the most seats in Congress right now. It is important to note that BOTH parties gerrymander because since they do so, neither has any moral "high ground" to complain about it (and most of the bellyaching I hear about gerrymandering is from Democrats bitching about Texas). Guess what? It is a bipartisan problem. You called the Republicans to task in your example, and rightfully so. As a counter example, Annapolis couldn't get rid of Roscoe Bartlett -- a dissenting viewpoint for years -- and had to resort to gerrymandering (again) to do so -- for the second time. And so, to your point, 87.5% of our Congressman are now Democrats (much higher than the overall percentage of registered Democrats even in MD), and urban DC suburbs are shamefully lumped in with extremely rural Western Maryland. Obviously, because we have a democratic republic versus a true democracy, the actual representation will never exactly match the voter distribution. In politics today, one's "side" only complains when the chips don't fall their way. I can assure you that MD politicians are keeping a very low profile these days regarding gerrymandering, because they're as guilty of it as those in the most red parts of Texas.
I'm as concerned as the next guy about the effects of the "money primary" destroying the country, but you'll have to explain how legalization of marijuana would go against the interest of "big money". Next, I'd ask what you are smoking, but I think I have a hunch.
...you'll have to explain how legalization of marijuana would go against the interest of "big money".
Heh, prohibition has always been big business. All sorts of industries sprang up around it, private prisons being one of the bigger ones, and the smugglers themselves make enormous profits from it. They sure as hell don't want legalized weed. Then there's the alcohol and to a smaller extent the pharmaceutical industries. They would lose a lot of business. And the stuff makes pretty good bio-fuel. Don't want to step on big oil's toes. Paper and logging? Don't you dare!
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
For what it's worth, I'm neither a Democrat or Republican - I have no dog in that fight. In my view, the correct way to handle redistricting is something along the lines of shortest-splitline or University of Illinois' mathematical districts.
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These renewables are cheaper than nuclear and require far less subsidy.
I don't hear you whining and whinging about the entrenched systems trillion dollar windfall.
Because you're an ignorant arsehole with an axe to grind because, frankly, you have nothing else to do.
It can also mean that the support for the Snoods is very high in the 201 places where they where voted in and very low elsewhere so their (for sake of argument > 51% there and 49% respectively). The Whelks on the other hand had exactly 49.7 in all seats.
Of course this is exactly why the Whelks want to gerrymander. Get the Snoods all bunched up in a small number of seats so that you can then (with your overall support) carry a larger number of seats.
The moral of the story is that the party with the broadest support will carry more seats. You don't want to have very large numbers in one race if that means you have (proportionally to your opponent) less in other seats.
" failed bankrupted green-energy companies such as Solyndra (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solyndra) and many others. If the energy source is non-viable economically and market can not support it"
You do know Solyndra and many of the other failed companies were started under Bush right? Executive corruption and Chinese dumping on our markets sunk them more than any mistakes by the Obama administration. Economic viability means very little in a monopolistic market where small players get crushed by massive heavily subsidized government manipulating monopolistic jugernauts that had their start when there was barely any competition or market to speak of. Until we actually have a "free market" start-ups will have to be subsidized heavily just to even have a chance. That means there will be failures, nature of the beast.
I remember when President Carter tried to get synthetic fuel research and production off the ground. The oil companies and various others gave it lip service than sank it at the first opportunity.
People like to make a big deal of of Soklyndra but the failure rate of these government supported green companies is actually quite small: http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/22/news/economy/obama-energy-bankruptcies/index.html
Also, the reason Solyndra went belly-up is because China started their own initiative and dumped $4 billion into solar panel development, which they then dumped on the market for dirt cheap. And by dirt cheap, they went from $400/kg to $40/kg in three years time.
In short, we're not just competing with companies in other countries; we're competing with the countries themselves. How many markets are you will to surrender to China?
Are agnostics skeptical of unicorns too?
The House passed the "Fiscal Cliff" bill that included, among other things, an extension on Wind and Solar Power support. So, they've got another year to pick my pockets. By the way, on a local level, wind power can work. However, the best application may not be electrical generation. Those windmills can power air compressors and compressed air can be stored indefinitely. They also produce distilled water as a byproduct. The neat thing is that it is scalable. As finances permit, tanks and windmills can be added to the system.