Wind farms in Pacific Northwest paid to not produce

Wind farms in Pacific Northwest paid to not produce


And, guess WHO pays !!

More irony from energy !

Now some wind farms in the Pacific Northwest are going to get paid to periodically shut down !

The reason is because hydro electric dams in the area have been operating at peak efficiency because of excess water in the Columbia River Basin.

Apparently, there is more power produced than consumed at times !

The wind farms will be reimbursed for lost revenues during their shut down periods.

This is causing a double-wammie because taxpayer money is used to subsidize the production of renewable energy, and now the Bonneville Power Administration, a federal agency based in Portland, Oregon will need to raise electric rates in order to pay for the wind farms losses !!!!

God forbid someone finally figured out a way to curb fossil fuel use

Wind farms in the Pacific Northwest -- built with government subsidies and maintained with tax credits for every megawatt produced -- are now getting paid to shut down as the federal agency charged with managing the region's electricity grid says there's an oversupply of renewable power at certain times of the year.

The problem arose during the late spring and early summer last year. Rapid snow melt filled the Columbia River Basin. The water rushed through the 31 dams run by the Bonneville Power Administration, a federal agency based in Portland, Ore., allowing for peak hydropower generation. At the very same time, the wind howled, leading to maximum wind power production.

Demand could not keep up with supply, so BPA shut down the wind farms for nearly 200 hours over 38 days.

"It's the one system in the world where in real time, moment to moment, you have to produce as much energy as is being consumed," BPA spokesman Doug Johnson said of the renewable energy.

Now, Bonneville is offering to compensate wind companies for half their lost revenue. The bill could reach up to $50 million a year.

The extra payout means energy users will eventually have to pay more.

Money is being blown away by wind farms !


They Always figure out a way to steal the money.

Either they go bankrupt, or they are "over successful"



Which brilliant scholars have allowed this oxymoron to happen ??

Engineers and financial wizards mix like oil and water !!

reply to post by xuenchen


This is also certainly true in the UK and in other European countries. Makes me wonder if it is actually everywhere that has wind farms? Which also makes me think that even though these are a fantastic idea, maybe the tech isn't quite at a good enough level yet?

Explanation: S&F!

This could all be fixed if the wind farms incorporated this kind of technology ...

Compressed air energy storage [wiki]

Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) is a way to store energy generated at one time for use at another time. At utility scale, energy generated during periods of low energy demand (off-peak) can be released to meet higher demand (peak load) periods.

Flywheel energy storage [wiki]

Uninterruptible power supplyFlywheel power storage systems in production as of 2001 have storage capacities comparable to batteries and faster discharge rates. They are mainly used to provide load leveling for large battery systems, such as an uninterruptible power supply for data centers as they save a considerable amount of space compared to battery systems.

Thermal energy storage [wiki]

Because pumps get very hot. Capture and store that thermal energy as well.

Energy storage [wiki]

Personal Disclosure: :bnghd: :shk:

Sounds to me like a perfect reason to make the power companies publicly owned. No need to reimburse for lost revenue.

I'd rather see peak efficiency hydro dams shutting down peak efficiency wind farms instead of coal plants being operated, at all.