Thanks a grand for your continued dedication to exposing the Green Tyranny of the Climate Cult. I own 40 acres in West Richland that will be negatively impacted by the industrial wind debacle - my property value will drop dramatically as no one, including me, cares to look out over to the Hills in the West and see these economically unjustified hulks polluting the landscape. It appears to me, based on my understanding of history, that all peasant rebellions are for naught. We, The People, have been given the opportunity to let off some steam -- to engage in the illusion of action -- in an effort to put a halt to one more example of the Climate Cult's campaign toward Greenification. I predict that the HHH Wind / Solar / Battery system will be implemented as initially proposed by the applicant. All the signs, money raised and spent by Tri-City Cares, public comment periods, letters to the editor and any other actions by The People will be ignored. Gov. Inslee will retire from his Kingship and settle down for some quiet years on his property in Cle Elum ... far away from the sight of the turbines. TriCitians will suffer with the eyesore on the horizon and the knowledge that wind and solar power are economic frauds. Eventually, the hardware will need to be replaced, some 15-20 years down the road. I also predict that the energy and priority to replace the turbines will be absent . . . and so the horizon will be lined with these rotting hulks as the wind blades deteriorate and fall to the ground. This was never about the environment or the climate. It has always been about the power and control exercised by a small regiment of sociopaths. As long as there are ample distractions for the peasants, in terms of food and entertainment, there will be no measurable counter forces to the actions of the sociopaths. Things will continue to get worse, in terms of having a reliable power supply, inflation of the fiat currency and corruption within the Administrative State, until such time as there is serious breakage. I will leave the definition of the term "breakage" to the pragmatic imagination of the reader.
Thanks for your encouragement Patrick. Please don't give up. We need to put the full court press on EFSEC members and tell them to stand strong on their original recommendation to Inslee. I am not happy about any of the Horse Heaven Wind Farm (HHWF) being built, but at least the original EFSEC recommendation cut it back substantially. And with the reduced number of turbines Scout said the project would be financially infeasible. In addition, I keep making the point that Washington wind farms provide the lowest effective-capacity of any geographical region inside the Western Resource Adequacy Program (WRAP). Not only does an 8% to 11% effective load carrying capability (ELCC) in winter months reflect the anemic contribution to grid reliability expected from Washington wind farms, it also represents a potentially huge financial liability. Utilities participating in WRAP will be contractually bound to each other to bring generating resources to the table during peak demand hours (winter and summer months) that match their load. If they don't, they will have to pay significant financial penalties. A utility that signs up to be an off-taker from the HHWF will get so little credit for effective capacity, the developer will have to deeply discount the energy value in order to compete with wind projects in regions with much better ELCC values (e.g. Montana & Central Oregon) which could also make the project infeasible. Of course, if utilities can find a wind project in Montana or Central Oregon that has competitive energy and much higher ELCC values, they would be wise to kill two birds with one stone and sign a power purchase agreement with a project that satisfies both carbon-free energy mandates while also gaining much more ground on their effective capacity inventory.
How about Benton County declaring itself an Environmental Sanctuary?
Anyone, including contractors, violating its land use policies are subject to immediate arrest and seizure of their equipment by the County Sheriff.
If cities and states can declare themselves sanctuaries for law breakers and ignore laws in place, why can't Benton County push back against the overreach of the Governor who is choosing to ignore local authorities, land use regulations and public rights?
The fertile agricultural Horse Heaven Hills land must be preserved for its current use, and for future generations. Protecting this unique and precious land area is the right of the local citizens.
End this insanity now by declaring Benton County an Environmental Sanctuary. Benton County Commissioners can do this, now, with County Sheriff enforcement.
Excellent article, Rick! Thank you for this timely response to Governor Inslee’s letter to EFSEC directing them to reconsider a full build out of the HHWF.
R, well done article! Spot on. What's also egregious is the gov't's use of our taxpayer funds to force a product on folks instead of letting the people make the choice in the market. Definitely mission creep. Quite frankly, what Inslee/gov't is doing is they are NOT doing their fiduciary duty to taxpayers & they're not honoring their oaths of office to the Constitutions. Perhaps an investigative reporter will follow the money to see what Inslee, & Ferguson, is getting as a payoff & from whom.
Thank you for the break down! Keep up the good work and thank you for including the PowerEx report. I pulled it up and am very interested in reading it as well.
Thank you for your insightful and educational article. Keep up your dedication to expose the hypocrisy of the EFSEC process and Inslee's tyrannical efforts to force this project upon the ignored local population, both human and wildlife.
Rick, I just (3/25/25) ran across this article from Climate-Science Press dated 1/23/22 showing the devastation to the landscape & animals & native Aussie areas in Australia by putting in the wind turbines. (See link below.)
I hope you can use this in some of your presentations.
What is the correct term to use when referencing the actual generation output of a utility grade electricity generation project? Capacity factor? We need to stop referring to the nameplate capacity for renewables that are weather dependent. It is incredibly misleading.
For wind and solar power, using capacity factor is appropriate when quantifying the amount of energy produced on an annual basis relative to the nameplate capacity. To calculate capacity factor you simply divide the actual annual energy produced in megawatt-hours divided by the product of the nameplate capacity in megawatts multiplied by 8,760 hours, which is the amount of energy a generator would produce if it were operating at 100% of its nameplate rating for every hour of the year.
According to U.S. DOE data, the national average annual capacity factor for wind farms was 35% in 2021 with some newer built projects in the middle of the country as high as 39%. The capacity factor of the Nine Canyon wind farm located in Benton County, Washington is usually less than 30% which is closer to where most Washington wind farms would fall. So a 100 megawatt wind farm with a 30% capacity factor would produce 30 average megawatts for the year.
What can be even more misleading is how much of the nameplate capacity from a wind farm can be expected to show up when the demand for electricity is the highest. As I wrote about in other Substack posts regarding the polar vortex experienced in January 2024, wind farms in Washington and down the Columbia River Gorge were producing zero or below zero megawatts for most of the 120 hours of the cold snap. So the "effective capacity" of these wind farms was 0% which is what the Bonneville Power Administration assumes will happen in their balancing area during critical peak load periods.
Utility-scale solar averages about 25% capacity factor. And of course solar farms produce 0% of nameplate generating capacity when the sun is not shining.
Hello Rick --
Thanks a grand for your continued dedication to exposing the Green Tyranny of the Climate Cult. I own 40 acres in West Richland that will be negatively impacted by the industrial wind debacle - my property value will drop dramatically as no one, including me, cares to look out over to the Hills in the West and see these economically unjustified hulks polluting the landscape. It appears to me, based on my understanding of history, that all peasant rebellions are for naught. We, The People, have been given the opportunity to let off some steam -- to engage in the illusion of action -- in an effort to put a halt to one more example of the Climate Cult's campaign toward Greenification. I predict that the HHH Wind / Solar / Battery system will be implemented as initially proposed by the applicant. All the signs, money raised and spent by Tri-City Cares, public comment periods, letters to the editor and any other actions by The People will be ignored. Gov. Inslee will retire from his Kingship and settle down for some quiet years on his property in Cle Elum ... far away from the sight of the turbines. TriCitians will suffer with the eyesore on the horizon and the knowledge that wind and solar power are economic frauds. Eventually, the hardware will need to be replaced, some 15-20 years down the road. I also predict that the energy and priority to replace the turbines will be absent . . . and so the horizon will be lined with these rotting hulks as the wind blades deteriorate and fall to the ground. This was never about the environment or the climate. It has always been about the power and control exercised by a small regiment of sociopaths. As long as there are ample distractions for the peasants, in terms of food and entertainment, there will be no measurable counter forces to the actions of the sociopaths. Things will continue to get worse, in terms of having a reliable power supply, inflation of the fiat currency and corruption within the Administrative State, until such time as there is serious breakage. I will leave the definition of the term "breakage" to the pragmatic imagination of the reader.
Thanks for your encouragement Patrick. Please don't give up. We need to put the full court press on EFSEC members and tell them to stand strong on their original recommendation to Inslee. I am not happy about any of the Horse Heaven Wind Farm (HHWF) being built, but at least the original EFSEC recommendation cut it back substantially. And with the reduced number of turbines Scout said the project would be financially infeasible. In addition, I keep making the point that Washington wind farms provide the lowest effective-capacity of any geographical region inside the Western Resource Adequacy Program (WRAP). Not only does an 8% to 11% effective load carrying capability (ELCC) in winter months reflect the anemic contribution to grid reliability expected from Washington wind farms, it also represents a potentially huge financial liability. Utilities participating in WRAP will be contractually bound to each other to bring generating resources to the table during peak demand hours (winter and summer months) that match their load. If they don't, they will have to pay significant financial penalties. A utility that signs up to be an off-taker from the HHWF will get so little credit for effective capacity, the developer will have to deeply discount the energy value in order to compete with wind projects in regions with much better ELCC values (e.g. Montana & Central Oregon) which could also make the project infeasible. Of course, if utilities can find a wind project in Montana or Central Oregon that has competitive energy and much higher ELCC values, they would be wise to kill two birds with one stone and sign a power purchase agreement with a project that satisfies both carbon-free energy mandates while also gaining much more ground on their effective capacity inventory.
How about Benton County declaring itself an Environmental Sanctuary?
Anyone, including contractors, violating its land use policies are subject to immediate arrest and seizure of their equipment by the County Sheriff.
If cities and states can declare themselves sanctuaries for law breakers and ignore laws in place, why can't Benton County push back against the overreach of the Governor who is choosing to ignore local authorities, land use regulations and public rights?
The fertile agricultural Horse Heaven Hills land must be preserved for its current use, and for future generations. Protecting this unique and precious land area is the right of the local citizens.
End this insanity now by declaring Benton County an Environmental Sanctuary. Benton County Commissioners can do this, now, with County Sheriff enforcement.
Excellent article, Rick! Thank you for this timely response to Governor Inslee’s letter to EFSEC directing them to reconsider a full build out of the HHWF.
R, well done article! Spot on. What's also egregious is the gov't's use of our taxpayer funds to force a product on folks instead of letting the people make the choice in the market. Definitely mission creep. Quite frankly, what Inslee/gov't is doing is they are NOT doing their fiduciary duty to taxpayers & they're not honoring their oaths of office to the Constitutions. Perhaps an investigative reporter will follow the money to see what Inslee, & Ferguson, is getting as a payoff & from whom.
Great overview! Thank you so much. What a farce….
Thank you for the break down! Keep up the good work and thank you for including the PowerEx report. I pulled it up and am very interested in reading it as well.
Appreciate your feedback and engagement. You keep up the good work as well. We need common sense to go viral across the entire country.
One can hope common sense goes viral!
Thank you for your insightful and educational article. Keep up your dedication to expose the hypocrisy of the EFSEC process and Inslee's tyrannical efforts to force this project upon the ignored local population, both human and wildlife.
Excellent article. We don’t call people names, we just bring the receipts. Apparently the green blokes don’t like to read too many big words.
Well said Rick.
Thanks for your encouragement and support Tom; greatly appreciated and needed.
Thank you, greatly appreciate your engagement and support of my writing.
Rick, I just (3/25/25) ran across this article from Climate-Science Press dated 1/23/22 showing the devastation to the landscape & animals & native Aussie areas in Australia by putting in the wind turbines. (See link below.)
I hope you can use this in some of your presentations.
J (BPUD customer)
https://climate-science.press/2022/01/23/getting-away-with-green-murder-wind-industry-destroying-vast-tracts-of-australian-wilderness/
What is the correct term to use when referencing the actual generation output of a utility grade electricity generation project? Capacity factor? We need to stop referring to the nameplate capacity for renewables that are weather dependent. It is incredibly misleading.
For wind and solar power, using capacity factor is appropriate when quantifying the amount of energy produced on an annual basis relative to the nameplate capacity. To calculate capacity factor you simply divide the actual annual energy produced in megawatt-hours divided by the product of the nameplate capacity in megawatts multiplied by 8,760 hours, which is the amount of energy a generator would produce if it were operating at 100% of its nameplate rating for every hour of the year.
According to U.S. DOE data, the national average annual capacity factor for wind farms was 35% in 2021 with some newer built projects in the middle of the country as high as 39%. The capacity factor of the Nine Canyon wind farm located in Benton County, Washington is usually less than 30% which is closer to where most Washington wind farms would fall. So a 100 megawatt wind farm with a 30% capacity factor would produce 30 average megawatts for the year.
What can be even more misleading is how much of the nameplate capacity from a wind farm can be expected to show up when the demand for electricity is the highest. As I wrote about in other Substack posts regarding the polar vortex experienced in January 2024, wind farms in Washington and down the Columbia River Gorge were producing zero or below zero megawatts for most of the 120 hours of the cold snap. So the "effective capacity" of these wind farms was 0% which is what the Bonneville Power Administration assumes will happen in their balancing area during critical peak load periods.
Utility-scale solar averages about 25% capacity factor. And of course solar farms produce 0% of nameplate generating capacity when the sun is not shining.
Communitarianism.