Thank you for this and all of your excellent articles. You fellows do a great job both in technical analysis and in conveying the important fact based messages on energy and electricity generation. On the rising electric rates due to too many renewables. Yes, indeed you are correct and yes the Democrats have and will continue to blame Trump and all of us Conservatives. Your messaging to counter the distorted information is important. The facts are in our favor but....the Leftists have the MSM to spread dis-information. Keep up your important and excellent work.
The haters will continue to deny the truth about the absolute importance of reliable electricity production from fossil fuels. If I’ve learned anything about the progressive thinking people is they don’t do much thinking once they’ve been hypnotized by the movement. Not just in the case of “ green energy “, pretty much across the board.
I’ve attached a great article from TEA that corroborates this article… remember most and I mean almost all Americans are unwilling to donate $10 per month on their utilities bill for “clean energy”… heck when ask $5 or even $1 the numbers we extremely low but they sure are paying out of their noses without even knowing it 😬
Read my 👄… Solar, wind, and battery storage get Americans in their pocket books upfront with subsidies and on the backend with superfund cleanup cost again taxpayers money, who loses the worst ??? Locals where these graveyards of solar & wind installations reside with all sorts of environmental and physical problems …
90% of Americans are effected by higher energy costs & until we as nation pass a federal law that ensures our affordable reliable clean energy security, we will pay through our noses and will be asked to pay or your electricity will be shut off,
Great piece as usual. If you follow policies you know why energy is going up and it ain't carbon based. Trump unleashed carbon in 2017/18 and by 2019 complete deflation happened which is the expected result as EVERYTHING is based on the supply and demand of carbon.
There is a reason, or several, that nuclear power and carbon are resisted and it ain't based on logic. There is a reason failed lawyers are pushed to run for congress. Total ignorance about reality.
I see a part of the problem being recency bias. When something impactful happens, the first place most people look is at what even just happened. Then that is attributed as the direct cause, while anything that happened years before is treated as irrelevant.
Politicians and their marketing people know this, which is why you get messaging that, "Your electricity prices are going up because the local people voted against allowing that new power plant to be built (in last week's election)."
Not enough people are remembering the historical past, and what actions that were taken decades ago are now having upon us.
I think many wind and solar advocates are driven by the belief that climate change will be catastrophic. I reject that belief and I suspect most or all of the people on this Substack also reject that belief. If needed, we could reduce atmospheric CO2 using nuclear power but those same W&S advocates often reject that as even an option to be considered. “What about the waste???? “ My state, MN, has made it illegal to build any new nuclear plants.
Many of those that advocate for W&S don’t take into account, or likely don’t understand, all the costs and limitations involved in making W&S viable. They don’t consider Dunkelflaute (low W&S) or Hellbrise (too much W&S), the extra costs of transmission, the costs of the engineering required to make the grid stable (think Iberian Peninsula blackout), or the costs of a wide range of subsidies. Subsidies, are hidden, but they are paid for by someone. They don’t consider the fact that we have to build two grids, one unreliable (W&S), and one reliable. They ignore land use conflicts. The only cost they talk about, or seem to understand, is the marginal cost of W&S. True, that cost is zero or close to zero. Ignoring all the other costs is like someone giving you a free steering wheel on a Lamborghini and telling you the car is cheap.
Most of the people I talk with don’t realize we have three almost completely isolated continental U.S. electricity grids. If tomorrow Texas could produce all of the electricity that the entire U.S. needed, that electricity would be trapped in Texas. I could not use even 1 kWh of it. Yes, the wind is blowing somewhere and the sun is shining somewhere, but that does not mean we can leverage it.
The problem I see is that our electric grid is exceptionally complicated. It is the biggest machine ever built. It is virtually impossible for someone to get a better understanding of the issues and costs involved of going all W&S without spending a fair amount of time reading and studying it. Energy has been my primary interest area for the last 15 years and I have only the most rudimentary understanding of what is involved. It is like we expect everyone to have a PhD in energy. Because of the enormous complexity involved in understanding energy, most of us are forced to turn to “trusted” sources on how to think about it. It is the blind leading the blind, or the religious leading the blind.
I own two copies of Shorting the Grid (Meredith Angwin). One physical, and one digital copy. It is one of the best books I know on this topic. I would lend my physical copy to any friend who would take the time to read it. I don’t know if anyone on this Substack has a strong recommendation of other books that are honest and detailed enough for someone to read to get a much better understand of the issues involved with W&S.
I have a huge library of books (that I have read) so at this point, I am not sure what books are the most accessible to an intelligent, but lightly informed reader. Just understanding the vocabulary of electricity, energy sources, economics, and grid operations is daunting enough, let alone really understanding some of the technical issues.
The more things change the more they stay the same. We began with the goal of an electrical light in every rural home around 1934. It’s been 11 months of winter and 1 month of damn tough sledding since. Nuclear power was going to be so cheap the meters would run backward. Recall deregulation of markets in 1998 was going to open the flood gates of low prices, then re-regulation, wind and solar subsidies and all manner of state and federal meddling here, there and everywhere. Some constants. Money flowed, PE’s got rich, think ArcLight Capital. Banks and lawyers loved solar and wind, and especially wind, the bigger the project the better, more complex, more legal, more billable hours, more investment dollars to chase, and of course less electrical production, which would mean more development and more dollars. But, this writer’s favorite constant are our dear friendly regulated utilities. What is the definition of a NY minute? The time it takes for a regulated utility lawyer to begin abrogating the PPA contract he just signed with you. There is no justification for the most recent Eversource rate increases here in New Hampshire. But the PUC, rubber stamped the increase and there you dear rate payers have it! The politicians those that are upright and capable of putting fog on a mirror, find this all too complex, so they default to doing what they think will keep them employed, which is generally making a speech about how high prices of electrical power are bad then doing nothing to sort the problem. So, all we can do is keep trying to educate and remind our neighbors to do the same and keep the regulated utilities their toes. They have their games, we have ours!
Thank you for the articles and your on-going efforts. Is there a way I can make a one-time financial contribution to help - as opposed to becoming a paid subscriber?
Great article, commonsense responses to all of the left arguments. In Southwest Missouri, our utility filed for a 30% increase early in 2025, way before the Big Beautiful Bill was passed. And, as you pointed out, the Production Tax Credit for existing projects was extended forever!
“Climate groups, liberal politicians, and the wind and solar lobby are going on the offensive”: They have gotten expert at pinning the tail on other donkeys.
All those factors (rising fuel prices + increased demand) will certainly make nuclear more viable - how viable is the question, and whether we'll actually start building nuclear plants again in the US is hard to say with over-bearing regulations in place. Plenty of countries are building nuclear plants and know how to do it well, so it's not impossible. We just need to make it more friendly for the technology here.
I understood that the Trump administration has mandated that the nuclear regulation regime been substantially revised in the next 18 months ago. This is one of the few Trump action that I can buy into
"Their wager has precedent. For instance, President Biden didn’t release the bird flu that resulted in the deaths of 40 million egg-laying birds,"
No, but his USDA sure liked to cull all of those chickens.
The other argument I've seen recently is that electricity prices have simply gone up at about the rate of inflation and are down relative to their peak in 1980. That's based on BLS/CPI data. What I would be interested in seeing is a breakdown -ideally weighted by actual kWh- of the inflation adjusted costs by "renewable" penetration. My hunch is that it would show a flat to declining trend for the fossil-heavy states helping to mask the rising trend in the "green" states.
Thank you for this and all of your excellent articles. You fellows do a great job both in technical analysis and in conveying the important fact based messages on energy and electricity generation. On the rising electric rates due to too many renewables. Yes, indeed you are correct and yes the Democrats have and will continue to blame Trump and all of us Conservatives. Your messaging to counter the distorted information is important. The facts are in our favor but....the Leftists have the MSM to spread dis-information. Keep up your important and excellent work.
Thanks, Dick!
The haters will continue to deny the truth about the absolute importance of reliable electricity production from fossil fuels. If I’ve learned anything about the progressive thinking people is they don’t do much thinking once they’ve been hypnotized by the movement. Not just in the case of “ green energy “, pretty much across the board.
It is an article of faith to them that wind and solar will always get cheaper and cheaper.
“Faith” being the key concept. Belief despite the evidence.
I’ve attached a great article from TEA that corroborates this article… remember most and I mean almost all Americans are unwilling to donate $10 per month on their utilities bill for “clean energy”… heck when ask $5 or even $1 the numbers we extremely low but they sure are paying out of their noses without even knowing it 😬
Read my 👄… Solar, wind, and battery storage get Americans in their pocket books upfront with subsidies and on the backend with superfund cleanup cost again taxpayers money, who loses the worst ??? Locals where these graveyards of solar & wind installations reside with all sorts of environmental and physical problems …
90% of Americans are effected by higher energy costs & until we as nation pass a federal law that ensures our affordable reliable clean energy security, we will pay through our noses and will be asked to pay or your electricity will be shut off,
so use your votes 🗳️ wisely Americans …
https://empoweringamerica.org/the-dirty-secret-behind-green-energy-subsidies/
Thanks for sharing! I was getting a weird authenticator when I tried to click the link
Not sure what that means as I am not IT literate … James T of H institute speaks highly of you … you and Mitch, do great work 🙏
Great piece as usual. If you follow policies you know why energy is going up and it ain't carbon based. Trump unleashed carbon in 2017/18 and by 2019 complete deflation happened which is the expected result as EVERYTHING is based on the supply and demand of carbon.
There is a reason, or several, that nuclear power and carbon are resisted and it ain't based on logic. There is a reason failed lawyers are pushed to run for congress. Total ignorance about reality.
I'm hopeful we can settle the issue of how much authority epa has to regulate ghg emissions once and for all.
If we could only force them to live as they legislate; live on power that is only good for a few hours a day...
I see a part of the problem being recency bias. When something impactful happens, the first place most people look is at what even just happened. Then that is attributed as the direct cause, while anything that happened years before is treated as irrelevant.
Politicians and their marketing people know this, which is why you get messaging that, "Your electricity prices are going up because the local people voted against allowing that new power plant to be built (in last week's election)."
Not enough people are remembering the historical past, and what actions that were taken decades ago are now having upon us.
Absolutely. It's what the climate people are banking on
I think many wind and solar advocates are driven by the belief that climate change will be catastrophic. I reject that belief and I suspect most or all of the people on this Substack also reject that belief. If needed, we could reduce atmospheric CO2 using nuclear power but those same W&S advocates often reject that as even an option to be considered. “What about the waste???? “ My state, MN, has made it illegal to build any new nuclear plants.
Many of those that advocate for W&S don’t take into account, or likely don’t understand, all the costs and limitations involved in making W&S viable. They don’t consider Dunkelflaute (low W&S) or Hellbrise (too much W&S), the extra costs of transmission, the costs of the engineering required to make the grid stable (think Iberian Peninsula blackout), or the costs of a wide range of subsidies. Subsidies, are hidden, but they are paid for by someone. They don’t consider the fact that we have to build two grids, one unreliable (W&S), and one reliable. They ignore land use conflicts. The only cost they talk about, or seem to understand, is the marginal cost of W&S. True, that cost is zero or close to zero. Ignoring all the other costs is like someone giving you a free steering wheel on a Lamborghini and telling you the car is cheap.
Most of the people I talk with don’t realize we have three almost completely isolated continental U.S. electricity grids. If tomorrow Texas could produce all of the electricity that the entire U.S. needed, that electricity would be trapped in Texas. I could not use even 1 kWh of it. Yes, the wind is blowing somewhere and the sun is shining somewhere, but that does not mean we can leverage it.
The problem I see is that our electric grid is exceptionally complicated. It is the biggest machine ever built. It is virtually impossible for someone to get a better understanding of the issues and costs involved of going all W&S without spending a fair amount of time reading and studying it. Energy has been my primary interest area for the last 15 years and I have only the most rudimentary understanding of what is involved. It is like we expect everyone to have a PhD in energy. Because of the enormous complexity involved in understanding energy, most of us are forced to turn to “trusted” sources on how to think about it. It is the blind leading the blind, or the religious leading the blind.
I own two copies of Shorting the Grid (Meredith Angwin). One physical, and one digital copy. It is one of the best books I know on this topic. I would lend my physical copy to any friend who would take the time to read it. I don’t know if anyone on this Substack has a strong recommendation of other books that are honest and detailed enough for someone to read to get a much better understand of the issues involved with W&S.
I have a huge library of books (that I have read) so at this point, I am not sure what books are the most accessible to an intelligent, but lightly informed reader. Just understanding the vocabulary of electricity, energy sources, economics, and grid operations is daunting enough, let alone really understanding some of the technical issues.
Meredith is great! I think she's working on a new book, too
Ahhhh yes, the mud slinging game, it's easier than actually doing your job in congress.
The more things change the more they stay the same. We began with the goal of an electrical light in every rural home around 1934. It’s been 11 months of winter and 1 month of damn tough sledding since. Nuclear power was going to be so cheap the meters would run backward. Recall deregulation of markets in 1998 was going to open the flood gates of low prices, then re-regulation, wind and solar subsidies and all manner of state and federal meddling here, there and everywhere. Some constants. Money flowed, PE’s got rich, think ArcLight Capital. Banks and lawyers loved solar and wind, and especially wind, the bigger the project the better, more complex, more legal, more billable hours, more investment dollars to chase, and of course less electrical production, which would mean more development and more dollars. But, this writer’s favorite constant are our dear friendly regulated utilities. What is the definition of a NY minute? The time it takes for a regulated utility lawyer to begin abrogating the PPA contract he just signed with you. There is no justification for the most recent Eversource rate increases here in New Hampshire. But the PUC, rubber stamped the increase and there you dear rate payers have it! The politicians those that are upright and capable of putting fog on a mirror, find this all too complex, so they default to doing what they think will keep them employed, which is generally making a speech about how high prices of electrical power are bad then doing nothing to sort the problem. So, all we can do is keep trying to educate and remind our neighbors to do the same and keep the regulated utilities their toes. They have their games, we have ours!
Absolutely. The system is so complex people don't want to take the time to understand it until they feel the financial pain. By then, it's too late.
Thank you for the articles and your on-going efforts. Is there a way I can make a one-time financial contribution to help - as opposed to becoming a paid subscriber?
Hi Michael, and thank you so much for your generosity.
You can make a donation to Always On Energy Research https://www.aoenergy.org/donate/
Great content 🫡
Thanks, Pat!
Great article, commonsense responses to all of the left arguments. In Southwest Missouri, our utility filed for a 30% increase early in 2025, way before the Big Beautiful Bill was passed. And, as you pointed out, the Production Tax Credit for existing projects was extended forever!
Did they say what they were raising rates for?
“Climate groups, liberal politicians, and the wind and solar lobby are going on the offensive”: They have gotten expert at pinning the tail on other donkeys.
Yes. Aided by the msm
Si los precios de la energía son alto con un barril de petróleo a estos precios , qué pasará cundo este suba?
o cuando los centros de datos empiecen a consumir electricidad masivamente?
Esos aumentos de costes harán viable la energía nuclear?
All those factors (rising fuel prices + increased demand) will certainly make nuclear more viable - how viable is the question, and whether we'll actually start building nuclear plants again in the US is hard to say with over-bearing regulations in place. Plenty of countries are building nuclear plants and know how to do it well, so it's not impossible. We just need to make it more friendly for the technology here.
I understood that the Trump administration has mandated that the nuclear regulation regime been substantially revised in the next 18 months ago. This is one of the few Trump action that I can buy into
También los sobrecostes son siempre muy altos
Que?
"Their wager has precedent. For instance, President Biden didn’t release the bird flu that resulted in the deaths of 40 million egg-laying birds,"
No, but his USDA sure liked to cull all of those chickens.
The other argument I've seen recently is that electricity prices have simply gone up at about the rate of inflation and are down relative to their peak in 1980. That's based on BLS/CPI data. What I would be interested in seeing is a breakdown -ideally weighted by actual kWh- of the inflation adjusted costs by "renewable" penetration. My hunch is that it would show a flat to declining trend for the fossil-heavy states helping to mask the rising trend in the "green" states.
If renewables advocates didn’t have lies they would nothing at all to say.