If only there was some way for the boards of these companies to feel the consequences of their decisions more directly I'm sure behaviors would change. for instance, if they were only allowed to draw power from the solar facility throughout the year, and when the sun sets, they find themselves powerless, they might see the decisions are not in the best interest of their customers.
so true. of course, I have been a proponent of one and done terms for federal elected office for a long time. not only that, all members of congress should be made to live in Congressional dormitories in DC (there's lots of empty real estate) so reduce their pay as well. make government something good people want to do for the good of the nation, not for self enrichment
A question for the EBBs: if in order to overcome objections to solar farms in sun-poor territories, they were placed underground, could they still collect subsidies and make a return on investment?
I am from that part of Wisconsin (in Kansas now, fighting the same thing), very familiar. We still drive through that way... its going to be sad when the farm land is gone.
What’s the reason for this? “Wisconsin is a suboptimal market for solar, with facilities statewide generating just 18.3 percent of their potential output in 2024”
It’s pretty far north which means short winter days. Snow on the panels knocks it down a little more. The average is probably being weighed down by some older facilities which is why I used a high estimate too
Sounds like a carbon copy of the power incompetence going on in Colorado. Democrats are going to bankrupt the utility customer and blame Trump as they dance around in their no kings clown suits. We have to get rid of power monopolies and their handpicked politician compliant regulators.
I live in NY, where we live with CLCPA (NY's GND). It's a disaster and directly mirrors what is happening in Wisconsin. Our Governor was recently forced (by the Courts, not by common sense) to amend CLCPA and put off mandatory Net-Zero goals until (surprise) she is out of office. She cannot admit that CLCPA established IMPOSSIBLE goals in law, so like any politician she kicks the can down the road, and blames Trump's cancellation of Offshore subsidies.
It's always somebody else's fault with these petulant children we call politicians.
from someone whose morale is not improving as the beatings continue in utility bills, can you please do a similar analysis of the UK - apologies if you have already done so.
Unless the residents of Waupaca, Wisconsin, rise and demand reversal of their local government’s shortsighted allowance of this expensive inefficient ineffective and unreliable on their farm or dairy lands … they and their future generations will have 1500 acres of regret to view & suffer from for decades to come … if they want to learn how to fight this nonsense, they should reach out to the folks at Knox Smart Development, Knox county Ohio, who fought the fight against open roads renewables & its 1400 acres on farmlands monstrosity Frazier Solar project. Frasier solar project has had a rough go since KSD got involved 🙏
So Waupaca, WI residents what's it gonna be? fight or regrets? It’s up to you
Thank you for this analysis, EBB. To see where the trajectory of Wisconsin electricity prices is headed, please consider the state of California. Despite having much more sun for the entire year relative to Wisconsin, and having the greatest amount of solar generation (22,466 MW) of any state, California now has the *highest* electricity rates in the continental U.S. That is the logical consequence of recently spending tens of billions of dollars on generation resources based on inherently-intermittent energy flows. An expensive and inefficient parallel system has been constructed based on dispatchable fossil-fired generation to firm the intermittent system.
There is another more ominous parallel with California. The Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) lacks an inspector general to investigate waste, fraud, and abuse, just like the California Public Utilities Commission. In my view, an electric power generation system focused on solar, wind, and batteries instead of reliable fossil and nuclear power generation is a waste based on fraud.
Correct, Gene. What we in California wouldn’t give for Wisconsin’s high energy prices. Here in San Diego county we often pay 40-50 cents/kWh. This is where Wisconsin is going. We’re so green that, after all our renewable initiatives, charging your electric vehicle is nearly expensive as filling up your gasoline powered car, except the latter can at least make it to your in laws house without refueling.
Isaac and Mitch, great article! Hits several key points:
a) The combined impact of both closing coal resources pre-maturely and adding expensive renewable resources on rates.
b) The willingness of commissions (and utilities) to defer costs essentially passing them on to future customers who obtain no benefit from the underlying asset/resource. We have a coal asset that has a significantly large un-recovered balance. In contract, another coal asset that went through a 10-year harvest mode and is currently retired with very minimal un-recovered costs.
c) The $1.3B spend on LNG storage capability is a really puzzling (and expensive for Customers). Does it reflect just how critical is to maintain grid reliability with all of the non-dispatchable renewable resources? Would this investment have been necessary if the coal assets had not been retired pre-maturely? The ability of coal plants to maintain 60+ days of coal certainly contributes to their value and supports a diverse portfolio of generation assets.
d) Thankful we have requirements for an IRP every 3 years in our state.
"In what universe does replacing the (low-cost) coal fleet make any sense for Wisconsin families and businesses?"
Answer: None that can be found.
Maybe WiPSUC would be a better acronym for what appears to be the Wisconsin Public Sector Utilities Criminals. The producers that can determine which forms of power generation will be utilized will win, because they are not required to match the best power options with the end market. They don't care about the costs to the end-user, because they are allowed by law to recover those costs FROM the end-users.
What is it with these democrats? The sentence “Dumber than a sack of hammers” is almost to good for most of them. It’s really time to replace the brainless.
1500 acres. Is that all the good these morons can come up for the best use of their lands in their State?
If only there was some way for the boards of these companies to feel the consequences of their decisions more directly I'm sure behaviors would change. for instance, if they were only allowed to draw power from the solar facility throughout the year, and when the sun sets, they find themselves powerless, they might see the decisions are not in the best interest of their customers.
and after the boards feel responsibility for their poor choices maybe we can move on to politicians. Just spitballing...
so true. of course, I have been a proponent of one and done terms for federal elected office for a long time. not only that, all members of congress should be made to live in Congressional dormitories in DC (there's lots of empty real estate) so reduce their pay as well. make government something good people want to do for the good of the nation, not for self enrichment
100%
"Solar puts the con in Wisconsin".
A question for the EBBs: if in order to overcome objections to solar farms in sun-poor territories, they were placed underground, could they still collect subsidies and make a return on investment?
lol yes they could
Dig baby, dig!
Awww yeah, sunny, sunny, WI. FL of the Midwest.
Gotta question the claims of anyone who doesn't openly recognize Ellsworth as the cheese curd capital. ;-)
I am from that part of Wisconsin (in Kansas now, fighting the same thing), very familiar. We still drive through that way... its going to be sad when the farm land is gone.
What’s the reason for this? “Wisconsin is a suboptimal market for solar, with facilities statewide generating just 18.3 percent of their potential output in 2024”
It’s pretty far north which means short winter days. Snow on the panels knocks it down a little more. The average is probably being weighed down by some older facilities which is why I used a high estimate too
Sounds like a carbon copy of the power incompetence going on in Colorado. Democrats are going to bankrupt the utility customer and blame Trump as they dance around in their no kings clown suits. We have to get rid of power monopolies and their handpicked politician compliant regulators.
I live in NY, where we live with CLCPA (NY's GND). It's a disaster and directly mirrors what is happening in Wisconsin. Our Governor was recently forced (by the Courts, not by common sense) to amend CLCPA and put off mandatory Net-Zero goals until (surprise) she is out of office. She cannot admit that CLCPA established IMPOSSIBLE goals in law, so like any politician she kicks the can down the road, and blames Trump's cancellation of Offshore subsidies.
It's always somebody else's fault with these petulant children we call politicians.
MD
from someone whose morale is not improving as the beatings continue in utility bills, can you please do a similar analysis of the UK - apologies if you have already done so.
Unless the residents of Waupaca, Wisconsin, rise and demand reversal of their local government’s shortsighted allowance of this expensive inefficient ineffective and unreliable on their farm or dairy lands … they and their future generations will have 1500 acres of regret to view & suffer from for decades to come … if they want to learn how to fight this nonsense, they should reach out to the folks at Knox Smart Development, Knox county Ohio, who fought the fight against open roads renewables & its 1400 acres on farmlands monstrosity Frazier Solar project. Frasier solar project has had a rough go since KSD got involved 🙏
So Waupaca, WI residents what's it gonna be? fight or regrets? It’s up to you
Thank you for this analysis, EBB. To see where the trajectory of Wisconsin electricity prices is headed, please consider the state of California. Despite having much more sun for the entire year relative to Wisconsin, and having the greatest amount of solar generation (22,466 MW) of any state, California now has the *highest* electricity rates in the continental U.S. That is the logical consequence of recently spending tens of billions of dollars on generation resources based on inherently-intermittent energy flows. An expensive and inefficient parallel system has been constructed based on dispatchable fossil-fired generation to firm the intermittent system.
There is another more ominous parallel with California. The Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) lacks an inspector general to investigate waste, fraud, and abuse, just like the California Public Utilities Commission. In my view, an electric power generation system focused on solar, wind, and batteries instead of reliable fossil and nuclear power generation is a waste based on fraud.
Correct, Gene. What we in California wouldn’t give for Wisconsin’s high energy prices. Here in San Diego county we often pay 40-50 cents/kWh. This is where Wisconsin is going. We’re so green that, after all our renewable initiatives, charging your electric vehicle is nearly expensive as filling up your gasoline powered car, except the latter can at least make it to your in laws house without refueling.
Isaac and Mitch, great article! Hits several key points:
a) The combined impact of both closing coal resources pre-maturely and adding expensive renewable resources on rates.
b) The willingness of commissions (and utilities) to defer costs essentially passing them on to future customers who obtain no benefit from the underlying asset/resource. We have a coal asset that has a significantly large un-recovered balance. In contract, another coal asset that went through a 10-year harvest mode and is currently retired with very minimal un-recovered costs.
c) The $1.3B spend on LNG storage capability is a really puzzling (and expensive for Customers). Does it reflect just how critical is to maintain grid reliability with all of the non-dispatchable renewable resources? Would this investment have been necessary if the coal assets had not been retired pre-maturely? The ability of coal plants to maintain 60+ days of coal certainly contributes to their value and supports a diverse portfolio of generation assets.
d) Thankful we have requirements for an IRP every 3 years in our state.
"In what universe does replacing the (low-cost) coal fleet make any sense for Wisconsin families and businesses?"
Answer: None that can be found.
Maybe WiPSUC would be a better acronym for what appears to be the Wisconsin Public Sector Utilities Criminals. The producers that can determine which forms of power generation will be utilized will win, because they are not required to match the best power options with the end market. They don't care about the costs to the end-user, because they are allowed by law to recover those costs FROM the end-users.
Seriously? It's the alternative Universe where rapid decarbonization and Net Zero are prioritized over all else.
Well that’s true haha
Good work, not ready to pay yet!
What is happening in Wisconsin seems like the definition of FRAUD.
.
Where's PROOF that Global Warming harms mankind - you can make the case it's a benefit.
.
Utilities thereby enriching themselves unjustly seems ripe for a lawsuit.
What is it with these democrats? The sentence “Dumber than a sack of hammers” is almost to good for most of them. It’s really time to replace the brainless.
1500 acres. Is that all the good these morons can come up for the best use of their lands in their State?
Plus, that’s not fair to hammers, which are at least useful.