Renewables' real costs

Vincent J. Curtis

11 Nov 23

RE: Why Ontario should embrace renewables. Op-ed by Gideon Forman, a policy analyst with the David Suzuki Foundation.  The Hamilton Spectator 11 Nov 23.

The article by a propagandist from the Suzuki institute should be read with great skepticism.  In 2010, University of Guelph economist Ross McKittrick calculated that it would require 7 MW of nameplate wind generation to replace 1 MW of conventional generation because wind is that unreliable.  In addition, behind every windmill is a natural gas generator to supply power when the wind isn’t blowing.  Beyond that is all the addition copper wiring and transmission lines required to tie together these widely separated windmills, whereas conventional generation (including nuclear) have a tiny footprint compared to a wind generating facility.

Wind power is considered baseline power, meaning the grid has to take the power when it’s generated, no questions asked; meaning keeping the grid stable is a continuous engineering challenge.

Another unmentioned problem with windmills is their short service life.  Siemens AG of Germany is in serious financial trouble because the windmills they sold in Europe with an expected lifetime of 25 years turned out to have only 12 years of actual service life.

I don’t trust for a moment the quoted cost of $48 per MW-hr of production with all the subsidies built into the renewables project.  The capital costs and cost to the environment that these enormous facilities themselves have are completely ignored in the Suzuki cost analysis.

Ontario is far better off looking to develop its nuclear capability with nat gas generation providing on-demand peak power.  That is, if Ontario wants a stable, cost-efficient grid without fear of blackouts.

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