The Obama administration's renewable energy stool, with its three legs of biofuels, solar, and wind, has now tipped over, as all three legs start to crumble. The final push came from the recent closing of Range Fuel Corp.'s cellulosic ethanol plant in Soperton, Ga.
Former Energy Sec. Samuel Bodman dedicated the Soperton plant in November 2007, saying, "Today marks the beginning of a new phase of our effort to make America more energy-secure." After 4 years and more than $300 million in taxpayer and private investment, the plant was unable to produce quantities of ethanol from wood chips and other cellulosic material because there is no effective cellulose-to-ethanol, large-scale production process.
Undeterred by this failure, the Obama administration has announced another $500 million for manufacturing plants to produce ethanol jet fuel from algae for military aircraft. There is no effective process for large-scale algae-to-ethanol production.
There is also little light for subsidized programs in solar energy, as illustrated by the $500 million taxpayer loss on Solyndra Corp., the result of going to market with a noncompetitive technology and process.
In the Nevada desert near the town of Ivanpah, ground was broken recently on a 4,000 acre Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) project using a $1.6 billion taxpayer guaranteed loan. More than 300,000 rotating mirrors will focus sunlight on three towers to heat liquid which becomes a source of steam for power generation. Ivanpah's developer is estimating annual electricity production of about 1 million Mw-hr. By comparison, Minnesota's Prairie Island nuclear plant produces eight times that amount, rain or shine, clouds or fair, night or day. After deducting Ivanpah's operating costs, such as regular cleaning of all those mirrors from desert dust, the net revenue is unlikely to cover even interest costs on this $2 billion-plus project.
Far to the east, an ill wind is blowing over the waters off Cape Cod. Interior Sec. Ken Salazar has approved Cape Wind, a $2 billion, 454 Mw project which will place 130 Siemens wind turbines in the sea. In testimony before the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board, Cape Wind's developer conceded that Cape Wind would actually operate at less than 100 Mw for 43% of the time, with lowest output in summer, when demand is highest. There would be no output for approximately 10% of the time. Former state Congressman William Delahunt (D-Quincy) blasted the project and provided his own estimates: "This will be the most expensive and most heavily subsidized offshore wind farm in the country at over $2.5 billion, with power costs to the region that will be at least double," he said.
Texas has 10,135 Mw of installed wind-generation capacity, three times that of any other state. But during the sweltering days in recent summers, when electricity demand set records, the state's intermittent turbines were incapable of producing serious power. During the July 27-Aug. 3, 2011, heat wave, when Texas electricity demand peaked above 60,000 Mw, wind energy output was often less than 1,000 Mw, a 10% capacity factor.
The Obama administration is being accused of "picking specific winners" in energy technology instead of leaving the decision to the marketplace. That's not the real problem. The real problem is spending billions to prematurely push unworkable and uneconomic programs into production. At their current stage, biofuels and intermittent wind and solar lack the scale to provide a significant percent of our energy needs.
Our resources are better spent on renewables research and development. An example is the University of Minnesota Center for Nanostructure Applications, which has technology which promises to enhance the efficiency of solar panels.
In the meantime, new combined cycle natural gas plants can replace coal with greatly reduced environmental impact.
Rolf WestgardSt. Paul, Minn.
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