According to sources, China’s State Grid Corp is in talks to purchase an 80% controlling interest in US based AES Corp’s wind business. A Reuters article stated that China’s “cash-flush state-owned power companies” are on a buying spree and, it seems to me, the US wind business is ready to sell.
This article follows on the heels of a REVE article which notes that the goal of China’s top wind power manufacturer -Goldwind – is to “build our platform in the Americas.” The article stated that the company motto of Goldwind is “globalization through localization.”
I’m not sure I even know how to ask this question but … is it really possible that our government is borrowing money from China in order to provide taxpayer funded subsidies to profit based wind businesses only to see the same “cash-flush” folks who own our debt then purchase US wind assets? Our politicians can’t really be that stupid … can they?
Well, the truth is, a fair number of them are … and that’s likely why China is “cash-flush!”
In fact, after the Production Tax Credit was eliminate from consideration due to our astounding and growing debt, Colorado Senator Bennet is trying to slip an amendment into a bill to insure his wind friends continue to receive taxpayer subsidies. Seems he’s fallen for the wind spin claim of “green jobs.”
Lisa Linowes of the Industrial Wind Action Group notes that the fate of the Bennet amendment #1709 to extend the PTC will ultimately be under the control of Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell.
If you want to stop this mis-use of taxpayer dollars, make your voices heard. Put pressure on your elected officials and specifically the Senate leadership:
- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) Phone: (202) 224-2541 Fax: 202-224-2499
- Sen. Harry Reid (D) Phone: (202) 224-3542 Fax:202-224-7327
As this amendment is being considered now, your immediate attention is very important.
AT NOTE: AES holdings include the Laurel Mountain wind project in West Virginia, site of a recent massive bird kill. The Laurel Mountain Preservation Association is requesting the WV PSC to conduct a thorough investigation of the incident. We fully support their effort and request that readers contact the PSC to demand that this matter not be dropped. The PSC Case Number 12-0034-E-C. Please send your letters to Ms. Sandra Squire, Executive Secretary, Public Service Commission of West Virginia, P.O. Box 812, Charleston, WV 25323).
If it seems this whole wind mess is out of control, it is! And that’s just the way the wind lobby likes it.
Oh, and about that debt:
Allegheny Treasures 
Making a call, sending an email is important. Not sure what to say….Speak from your heart, remember, Look what has happened in your community, your state, our region. You are asking for accountability and transparency. Here are a few speaking points.
As residents and property-owners of the State of ____________ we urge you to vote NO on any further extensions of the Production Tax Credit (‘PTC’) for wind energy for these reasons:
High Cost: Since adopted in 1992, the cost of the PTC for wind energy has ballooned from $5 million a year in 1998 to over $1 billion annually today. This open-ended subsidy of 2.2¢/kWh in after-tax income represents a pre-tax value of approximately 3.7¢/kWh. In many regions of the country the PTC now equals, or is greater than, the wholesale price of power.
Even if the PTC were to sunset, taxpayers are still obligated to cover nearly $10 billion in tax credits for wind projects built in the last decade. This is in addition to the nearly $20 billion debt for wind projects eligible under Section 1603.
Inefficient: Since the PTC is uniform across the country it is highly inefficient, supporting poorly sited wind development in some areas while in other areas supporting projects that would have been built regardless of the credit. This is true in Texas and the Pacific Northwest where wind generation exceeds transmission capacity. In New England the PTC overpays investors since utilities routinely sign long-term contracts for wind at prices significantly above market.
Wind sector slow-down not tied to the PTC: The wind industry insists it’s at risk of a slow-down without the PTC and jobs will be lost. But this view ignores crucial factors driving development in the U.S. Demand for wind has eroded, in part, due to states meeting their renewable mandates. Lower natural gas prices have further reduced wind’s attractiveness as a ‘fuel saver’. Faced with these market conditions, wind developers are tabling projects. The EIA now forecasts flat growth in the wind sector for this decade regardless of what happens with the PTC.
Job losses: Despite billions in public funding since 2008, the wind sector has reported a net loss of 10,000 direct and indirect jobs bringing the total to 75,000 jobs. It takes only 0.1 jobs per megawatt to operate a wind plant. Most of the sector’s jobs are temporary construction positions.
The PTC is nothing more than an earmark that lines the pockets of project owners and tax-advantaged investors while skewing the energy market and artificially masking the real cost of wind power. It’s time for the production tax credit to expire.
Call and email today.
Outstanding job of reporting, ranging as it does from AES’s China connection to the bogus projections about wind jobs. With the national debt nearing $16 trillion, the political zombots who would extend that debt by scores of billions of dollars via renewed production tax credits for this dysfunctional technology deserve nothing but contempt. I’d place them in stocks along the DC Mall for six months, then tar and feather them, and then send them by rail to permanent exile in Iran, although that ancient country is likely far to good for them.
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