Wind Turbine Collapse in Oklahoma
The Offshore Wind Industry Energy Scandal Is Even Worse Than You Think
Two of Europe’s biggest energy companies are abandoning the SS Offshore Wind.
In May, Shell, the UK-based oil and gas giant (2023 revenue: $317 billion), announced that it was cutting staff from its offshore wind business because, according to Bloomberg, the company has decided to focus on markets that “deliver the most value for our investors and customers.” Bloomberg also reported that the staff cuts were made after the departures of top executives in the company’s offshore wind and renewable power businesses.
Last month, Murray Auchincloss, the CEO of oil and gas giant BP, imposed a “hiring freeze and paused new offshore wind projects.” According to Reuters, the new CEO is putting more “emphasis on oil and gas amid investor discontent over its energy transition strategy” and that BP (2023 revenue: $208 billion) was cutting investments in “big budget, low-carbon projects, particularly in offshore wind, that are not expected to generate cash for years.”
but the massive fraud is in this,
Of course, those figures don’t jibe with the tsunami of hype about offshore wind energy that has appeared in major media outlets. But the hard reality is that America’s offshore wind sector is a subsidy-dependent industry that is dominated by foreign companies who are in bed with some of America’s biggest climate NGOs, including the NRDC (gross receipts: $555 million) and Sierra Club (Gross receipts: $184 million).
Those NGOs and others, including the National Wildlife Federation (gross receipts: $142 million) and Conservation Law Foundation (gross receipts: $17.5 million), are leading the most shameful environmental betrayal in modern American history. Rather than seek to protect marine mammals and stop the industrialization of our oceans, they are eagerly promoting the installation of hundreds of offshore wind platforms smack in the middle of the known habitat of the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale.
the foreign companies are literally hijacking American states, counties and towns…
Chart 2: Those foreign companies are feasting on subsidies. As shown below, the foreign corporations pushing for offshore wind in U.S. waters have, according to data from Good Jobs First, collected more than $9 billion in local, state, and federal subsidies, loans, or loan guarantees, and they are eager for more. How lucrative are the offshore wind subsidies? Consider Vineyard Wind, the 800-megawatt offshore project owned by Avangrid, the Spanish company, and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. Construction costs on the project will be about $4 billion. With an investment tax credit of about 40%, those two foreign outfits could collect as much as $1.6 billion in federal tax credits on Vineyard Wind alone.
oh wait, look what happened in the last few days..
Vineyard Wind has shut down operations after a turbine about 20 miles off the coast of Nantucket was damaged over the weekend, sending pieces of fiberglass debris onto the island’s southern beaches.
Vineyard Wind, a joint venture between Avangrid and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, said in a statement Tuesday that a turbine blade “experienced a breakage” about 20 meters from its root on Saturday night, but it was not clear what caused the break.
The company said that “nearly the entirety” of the blade remains attached to the turbine and has not fallen into the water. The turbine was in its commissioning phase at the time of the break and was still undergoing testing, the company said.
The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said it dispatched a team to work with Vineyard Wind “on an analysis of the cause of the incident and next steps.” Operations at Vineyard Wind are “shut down until further notice,” the agency said Tuesday.
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