Cold Air from Wordpress

The province has a huge issue there getting those [electricity] costs down. That’s an input cost breaking some of our manufacturers.” Goodyear added manufacturers are telling him electricity is costing ‘thousands and thousands a month more than it did even last year.’ “It’s difficult to be competitive when you have those types of exorbitant rates,” said Goodyear said. Hydro One chair of the board of directors Sandra Pupatello warned the province faces a difficult decade of challenges in the energy sector combating falling American electricity prices.

The headline from the sleaziest of industries reads " UTILITY LEADERS, NUCLEAR OWNERS, FERC COMMISSIONER PUBLICLY REBUT EXELON'S ANTI-PTC CAMPAIGN " The nuclear owners quoted prominently include Nextera. The company being attacked is a generator holding a number of nuclear assets, with generation selling, in many cases, in markets at market rates. Nextera is a label of Florida Power and Light (FPL): FPL operates in regulated environments, where they get a guaranteed return on investments through regulated rates.  Where that is not the case, they generally secure power purchase agreements to avoid exposure to market rates. Nextera itself lists 3 nuclear operations: Duane Arnold Energy Center  - Palo, IA Point Beach  - Two Rivers, WI Seabrook Station  - Seabrook, NH Duane Arnold somehow secured a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) - in the heart of wind country only a year ago . Point Beach has a PPA to 2030 (unit 1) and 2033 (unit 2) Seabrook Station has a sm...

Edward J. Calabrese in the Financial Post debunks linear no-threshold (LNT) one more time.

Ontario's Municipal Property Assessment Corporation recently published  Impact of Industrial Wind Turbines on Residential Property Assessment in Ontario - 2012 Assessment Base Year Study , and, as is thankfully something of a tradition, Wayne Gulden has analysed/refuted the pro-wind/government study on his Wind Farm Realities site. The MPAC study contains a graphic indicating the relatively low property values of homes closer to industrial wind turbines, as part of a narrative  explaining there is no significant evidence that industrial wind turbines (IWT) devalue property. Those who have followed what may be called a debate on the impact of IWTs on property values are familiar with lower values of properties proximate to IWT's being explained away. Relationship between Wind Turbines and Residential Property Values in Massachusetts , a report released early in 2014, also concluded that houses near IWT's were cheaper ... and the report also found no statistical evidence th...

Struggling to move out from under the scandalous actions of the gas plant scandal, and specifically the wiping of Premier's office computers allegedly directed by former Premier McGuinty's Chief of Staff - former TD Bank executive David Livingstone - the Wynne government is acting decisively in appointing a much more prominent TD executive to study something or other. Government Appoints Council to Review Hydro One, OPG and the LCBO April 11, 2014 12:35 p.m. Ministry of Finance The Ontario government has appointed a council to recommend ways to improve the efficiency and optimize the full value of Hydro One, Ontario Power Generation (OPG), and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO). The Premier's Advisory Council on Government Assets will examine how to get the most out of key government assets to generate better returns and revenues for Ontarians. Ed Clark, Group President and CEO of TD Bank Group, will chair the council. As part of its review, the council will conside...

I'm usuall compelled by Ross McKitick's work - but on this one I'm struck by the decay in academic standards demonstrated by the other Professors willing to make the 90 Mt claim. How many years have diploma factories extended educations through to PhD level grading people on what they think, and not if ... let alone how well they think if they do. These people should be thankful there are Ross McKitricks about to keep academia reputable.

First time I heard the goal has to be energy that is cheap, clean and abundant it sounded bizarre. Now it seems bizarre so few smart people have arrived at the conclusion. One of the clues indicating the stupidity and false goals of Ontario's Green Energy Act was that the price offer for wind and solar were escalated from the previous procurement program. Expensive and getting more so isn't part of a solution lowering the planet's emissions. It's refreshing Severin Borenstein has written this, but ... what should be done with those that say people pay too little for energy, and higher pricing is requisite to teach people the folly of consumption?