An immutable law of economics: Incentives that are not based on the market will ALWAYS invite grift.
Someone would do us a service to point out who the grifters are. Just list the investors and operators and regulators of the service. We may not find the under-the-table envelopes or the deposits in bitcoin accounts but we can assume with total confidence that they are there.
Excellent analysis and summary of the fable of “renewable” energy. The only aspects that are truly renewable are the never ending cost of their installation and operation, along with a huge step backward in reliability and standard of living for society. But hey, the hucksters, gangsters, and their politician accomplices suck up the money with glee as the karens and cuckholds of the world “feel green” thinking they are saving the planet.
"If we can make fossil fuels and rare earth metals useless, this world will be more peaceful."
"You can do that by riding public transportation, which I do."
(good lord)
The problem is that only a tiny minority of the population understand how anything works so the rampant bullshitting will prevail and the excuses pointing the blame away from the culprit—unreliable, high-cost renewables—will usually land with the majority. "Oh yeah, it was grid operators!"
I don't know why I'm complaining, every time the dumbs come out in force, I bet against them in the markets and get richer.
I read this word in a comment some time ago......"CLIMATARDS!" The definition can be learned from all the comments that accompany Doomberg's educational dispositions!!!
"Democratic and labor officials praised the expansion of community solar, which allows homeowners and businesses to invest in nearby small-scale solar farms to receive credits on their power bills.”
Homeowners and businesses are now taking on the responsibility of their supposed governing body? Yet again a case of "We have met the enemy and he is us"!
In complete agreement with this piece and its takeaways, but having trouble finding the source of the CA solar capacity factors in your chart. As I Google around I'm seeing averages of 25-30% for most solar in CA so would be interested if there is data contradicting that, especially if housed at CEC. https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2020/41/e3sconf_icsree2020_02004.pdf
ha lol yes, but in a few years when all of this finally hits home watch these same politicians speak. They saw this coming they knew way back this was stupid; they will flip flop so quick and glibly you would have thought they were gas and nuclear people from the get-go! lol
These chameleons are really just salespeople. The elites trying to push their agenda hire these glib salespeople (politicians) to push their stuff. Look past these salespeople and see who is really calling the shots (can be difficult, hidden very well) and follow the money.
Why I hope crypto money can work. Will be easier to follow the money from big shot to big shot, IF set up properly? IF
Welp, given the unsavory evidence from the entire UK Commonwealth and other Western liberal democracies, that Progressive elites and their middle class sycophants are willing to sacrifice their own children's safety and quality of life in the pathological crusade to deny the grim Hobbesian finality of their long and indiscriminate open borders experiment, I would expect a dollar-for-dollar-matched refusal to heed the oracular babblings of a Meredith Angwin or a Vaclav Smil; and the circular firing squad will only intensify as they studiously ignore France's nuclear miracle, in much the same way the French fail to notice the dearth in Eastern Europe of grooming gangs and the dulcet tones of the muezzin wafting daily from mosque minarets upon a sea of shisha.
> In reality, while the marginal cost of sunlight is zero, the true system cost of integrating solar into a modern grid includes the heavy and ongoing capital expenditures needed for transmission, stabilization, and balancing services. Without those, the electricity produced cannot be delivered reliably, making it far less “cheap” than advocates claim.
"It just doesn't make any sense. Seeds grow on trees. The ground is already covered in dirt. Sunshine is free, and water falls from the sky. Why does food still cost money, when every part of making food is free?"
> As the results of the investigation became undeniable, responsibility was pinned not on solar but on the grid operators who had failed to make the necessary investments to handle the rapid influx of green electricity.
I hate when people do this. Because it's not, strictly speaking, false.
From an extremely high level view, renewables don't destabilize the grid. Renewables add a destabilizing force to the grid, but this doesn't destabilize the grid, precisely because we spend billions of dollars in time, manpower, and giant electrical machines, to mitigate it. Obviously, if one is speaking from a position of economic reality, these are all trade-offs, and intentionally choosing the tradeoff that maximally destabilizes the grid, beyond the point at which you can afford to restabilize it, then it's reasonable to say "your trade-off destabilized the grid". Of course it is, we do it all the time around here.
But, if you're speaking from a position of politial possibility, instead of engineering pragmatism, then "well, of course there's a problem, those lazy grid operators didn't do their jobs and mitigate all the grid destabilization" is internally consistent. And because it's internally consistent, this lets green crusaders engage in weaponized equivocation (my personally coined term for a 'motte-and-bailey argument'). And because this dynamic lets them get away with it, it's a really effective argument tactic against low-information normies.
And this is one of the billion things that enrages me every day
> In other words, the renewables worked as designed, but the infrastructure to integrate them safely at such high percentages of supply lagged far behind:
This is a true statement. It's also a reasonable statement.... as long as you have an infinite budget. Which, political activists usually assume they do
The electrical grid is the largest machine humanity has ever built. It’s a living, breathing system of staggering complexity—millions of components, endless streams of resources, and armies of workers, all operating in miraculous synchrony. Flip a switch, and light appears, but behind that simple act lies a choreography so intricate that no single element can be taken for granted.
This is where our modern debates go off the rails. Politicians and pundits fixate on one input—fuel—while ignoring the countless other components that must function in lockstep to deliver electricity on demand. Such tunnel vision is how we end up in today’s precarious situation: chasing shiny new energy sources without respecting the machinery that makes energy usable in the first place.
Take oil. Yes, it is the most important commodity in the world. But nobody pours crude into a car engine or burns it straight in a power plant. Oil only reigns supreme because of its byproducts and, more importantly, the vast infrastructure we’ve spent a century building to refine, transport, and consume them. Oil is king not by raw virtue, but because we built it a kingdom.
The perspective that fuel cost is the "true" cost of a power is an unfortuanate by product of the 15 years of super low interest rates combined with good demographics. Now that the population is aging in the world ex Africa and the cost of capital has returned to the norm of the past 200+ years, the world is slowly realizing that resources do not flow freely. Suggest reading "The Price of Time" by Edward Chancellor. Also recall the quote from Warren Buffett that interest rates are the equivalent of gravity for the financial world. We are all coming down to earth...literally.
Besides the sobering influence of interest rates, and what happens when a central bank is allowed to set them arbitrarily, there is a subtle inflationary component in the complexity of civilization. Every business or essential govt task is a logistical lasagna interleaved with energy prospecting, production, and delivery costs. Perhaps less like a lasagna than a sfogliatella or baklava, as far as asymmetry between labor in the making and enjoyment in the eating.
As energy layers become expensive, the quality and quantity of everything steadily declines; and more and more once-essential tasks become prohibitive to do at all.
"Sánchez announced that the government has set up a commission to investigate the incident and will be examining the role of private energy companies.”
I knew the fix was in for the greenies . A Commission is can kicking avoidance of the problem . they kick the can long enough for the press to get distracted by the next shiny what ever and then go to lunch . Meanwhile ,back at the ranch had they let the market evolve the tech over time this would not have been as much an issue , so much money stolen
omg! a commission ha lol Yes last man concur! You know their hiding stuff when they decide to put this on someone else and do a Commission! lol PURE evidence there will be cover ups and politicians running for the hills. lol cracks me up!
Note that China (rightfully) considers their electric grid (and the financial and natural resources needed to run it) to be a matter of national security. As such there are significant direct and indirect subsidies for this activity. Note a good Substack post about the Chinese Grid.
An immutable law of economics: Incentives that are not based on the market will ALWAYS invite grift.
Someone would do us a service to point out who the grifters are. Just list the investors and operators and regulators of the service. We may not find the under-the-table envelopes or the deposits in bitcoin accounts but we can assume with total confidence that they are there.
Green Chicken et. alia.,
Excellent analysis and summary of the fable of “renewable” energy. The only aspects that are truly renewable are the never ending cost of their installation and operation, along with a huge step backward in reliability and standard of living for society. But hey, the hucksters, gangsters, and their politician accomplices suck up the money with glee as the karens and cuckholds of the world “feel green” thinking they are saving the planet.
Horse hockey!
You, as usual, shine light with the sun doesn't shine (pun intended!)
Ha
In the comments section of the WSJ yesterday:
"If we can make fossil fuels and rare earth metals useless, this world will be more peaceful."
"You can do that by riding public transportation, which I do."
(good lord)
The problem is that only a tiny minority of the population understand how anything works so the rampant bullshitting will prevail and the excuses pointing the blame away from the culprit—unreliable, high-cost renewables—will usually land with the majority. "Oh yeah, it was grid operators!"
I don't know why I'm complaining, every time the dumbs come out in force, I bet against them in the markets and get richer.
Always fade the dumbs.
I read this word in a comment some time ago......"CLIMATARDS!" The definition can be learned from all the comments that accompany Doomberg's educational dispositions!!!
You just can't make up this stuff. From The Guardian...March 3, 2016
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/03/us-agency-says-has-beaten-elon-musk-gates-to-holy-grail-battery-storage
"US agency reaches 'holy grail' of battery storage"...."could transform the grid within five to 10 years"
Sigh
Took me about 5 seconds after reading your illuminating post to find that. And I know nothing.
"Democratic and labor officials praised the expansion of community solar, which allows homeowners and businesses to invest in nearby small-scale solar farms to receive credits on their power bills.”
Homeowners and businesses are now taking on the responsibility of their supposed governing body? Yet again a case of "We have met the enemy and he is us"!
The whole proposal is amazing
In complete agreement with this piece and its takeaways, but having trouble finding the source of the CA solar capacity factors in your chart. As I Google around I'm seeing averages of 25-30% for most solar in CA so would be interested if there is data contradicting that, especially if housed at CEC. https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2020/41/e3sconf_icsree2020_02004.pdf
Slide 21 here: http://www.energy.ca.gov/filebrowser/download/6683?fid=6683
Wow thanks.
I was also confused by that.
Slide 21 here: http://www.energy.ca.gov/filebrowser/download/6683?fid=6683
ha lol yes, but in a few years when all of this finally hits home watch these same politicians speak. They saw this coming they knew way back this was stupid; they will flip flop so quick and glibly you would have thought they were gas and nuclear people from the get-go! lol
These chameleons are really just salespeople. The elites trying to push their agenda hire these glib salespeople (politicians) to push their stuff. Look past these salespeople and see who is really calling the shots (can be difficult, hidden very well) and follow the money.
Why I hope crypto money can work. Will be easier to follow the money from big shot to big shot, IF set up properly? IF
I've noticed that the 'sales people' you reference tend to retire wealthy...😩
Welp, given the unsavory evidence from the entire UK Commonwealth and other Western liberal democracies, that Progressive elites and their middle class sycophants are willing to sacrifice their own children's safety and quality of life in the pathological crusade to deny the grim Hobbesian finality of their long and indiscriminate open borders experiment, I would expect a dollar-for-dollar-matched refusal to heed the oracular babblings of a Meredith Angwin or a Vaclav Smil; and the circular firing squad will only intensify as they studiously ignore France's nuclear miracle, in much the same way the French fail to notice the dearth in Eastern Europe of grooming gangs and the dulcet tones of the muezzin wafting daily from mosque minarets upon a sea of shisha.
Experimental thought
> In reality, while the marginal cost of sunlight is zero, the true system cost of integrating solar into a modern grid includes the heavy and ongoing capital expenditures needed for transmission, stabilization, and balancing services. Without those, the electricity produced cannot be delivered reliably, making it far less “cheap” than advocates claim.
"It just doesn't make any sense. Seeds grow on trees. The ground is already covered in dirt. Sunshine is free, and water falls from the sky. Why does food still cost money, when every part of making food is free?"
Same thing as 'solar is actually free'
Yeah
> As the results of the investigation became undeniable, responsibility was pinned not on solar but on the grid operators who had failed to make the necessary investments to handle the rapid influx of green electricity.
I hate when people do this. Because it's not, strictly speaking, false.
From an extremely high level view, renewables don't destabilize the grid. Renewables add a destabilizing force to the grid, but this doesn't destabilize the grid, precisely because we spend billions of dollars in time, manpower, and giant electrical machines, to mitigate it. Obviously, if one is speaking from a position of economic reality, these are all trade-offs, and intentionally choosing the tradeoff that maximally destabilizes the grid, beyond the point at which you can afford to restabilize it, then it's reasonable to say "your trade-off destabilized the grid". Of course it is, we do it all the time around here.
But, if you're speaking from a position of politial possibility, instead of engineering pragmatism, then "well, of course there's a problem, those lazy grid operators didn't do their jobs and mitigate all the grid destabilization" is internally consistent. And because it's internally consistent, this lets green crusaders engage in weaponized equivocation (my personally coined term for a 'motte-and-bailey argument'). And because this dynamic lets them get away with it, it's a really effective argument tactic against low-information normies.
And this is one of the billion things that enrages me every day
A few lines later you are touching on my thought
> In other words, the renewables worked as designed, but the infrastructure to integrate them safely at such high percentages of supply lagged far behind:
This is a true statement. It's also a reasonable statement.... as long as you have an infinite budget. Which, political activists usually assume they do
Yup
The electrical grid is the largest machine humanity has ever built. It’s a living, breathing system of staggering complexity—millions of components, endless streams of resources, and armies of workers, all operating in miraculous synchrony. Flip a switch, and light appears, but behind that simple act lies a choreography so intricate that no single element can be taken for granted.
This is where our modern debates go off the rails. Politicians and pundits fixate on one input—fuel—while ignoring the countless other components that must function in lockstep to deliver electricity on demand. Such tunnel vision is how we end up in today’s precarious situation: chasing shiny new energy sources without respecting the machinery that makes energy usable in the first place.
Take oil. Yes, it is the most important commodity in the world. But nobody pours crude into a car engine or burns it straight in a power plant. Oil only reigns supreme because of its byproducts and, more importantly, the vast infrastructure we’ve spent a century building to refine, transport, and consume them. Oil is king not by raw virtue, but because we built it a kingdom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67tHtpac5ws
The perspective that fuel cost is the "true" cost of a power is an unfortuanate by product of the 15 years of super low interest rates combined with good demographics. Now that the population is aging in the world ex Africa and the cost of capital has returned to the norm of the past 200+ years, the world is slowly realizing that resources do not flow freely. Suggest reading "The Price of Time" by Edward Chancellor. Also recall the quote from Warren Buffett that interest rates are the equivalent of gravity for the financial world. We are all coming down to earth...literally.
I have that book on my tsundoku list!
Besides the sobering influence of interest rates, and what happens when a central bank is allowed to set them arbitrarily, there is a subtle inflationary component in the complexity of civilization. Every business or essential govt task is a logistical lasagna interleaved with energy prospecting, production, and delivery costs. Perhaps less like a lasagna than a sfogliatella or baklava, as far as asymmetry between labor in the making and enjoyment in the eating.
As energy layers become expensive, the quality and quantity of everything steadily declines; and more and more once-essential tasks become prohibitive to do at all.
When I saw this
"Sánchez announced that the government has set up a commission to investigate the incident and will be examining the role of private energy companies.”
I knew the fix was in for the greenies . A Commission is can kicking avoidance of the problem . they kick the can long enough for the press to get distracted by the next shiny what ever and then go to lunch . Meanwhile ,back at the ranch had they let the market evolve the tech over time this would not have been as much an issue , so much money stolen
omg! a commission ha lol Yes last man concur! You know their hiding stuff when they decide to put this on someone else and do a Commission! lol PURE evidence there will be cover ups and politicians running for the hills. lol cracks me up!
SNIP: “…can no longer be hidden…”, I just hope you’re correct.
Evidence is piling up
Note that China (rightfully) considers their electric grid (and the financial and natural resources needed to run it) to be a matter of national security. As such there are significant direct and indirect subsidies for this activity. Note a good Substack post about the Chinese Grid.
https://substack.com/inbox/post/171629212
Rethinking China’s power grid: renewables, record electricity numbers, and heatwaves
Hot summer, record electricity, falling emissions: what July reveals about China’s grid
Will take a look thanks
Also this link https://www.thewirechina.com/2025/08/24/grading-the-grids-china-electricity-grid/