Boris Johnson’s Bizarre Persistence With Unreliable Wind Power Defies All Logic & Reason

Insanity is doing that same thing over and over again and expecting different results, which is why STT raises an eyebrow (or two) at Boris Johnson’s persistent love affair with heavily subsidised and chaotically intermittent wind power. His belief that taking it all offshore will make a difference, only confirms that this man has a tenuous grip on reality. Indeed, the belief that a modern, industrialised economy can rely upon a stone-age power source is positively bonkers.

Boris and his fellow travellers have now had the benefit of Europe’s Big Calm – a period when winds slackened across Western Europe and the UK – leaving thousands of these things completely idle. And yet, the amorous obsession remains.

Then there’s the astronomical cost of trying to generate occasional electricity tens and even hundreds of kilometres offshore and returning it to terra firma using cables prone to failure, and difficult and costly to repair. As we pointed out in a recent post – Wanton Waste: World’s Largest Wind Farm = World’s Largest White Elephant – the Dogger Bank offshore wind farm is so costly to run, it will never turn a profit, notwithstanding massive subsidies.

Now Boris is copping flak from former Republican President Donald J Trump launching a timely broadside across the Atlantic.

President Trump: Boris Johnson is Making a Big Mistake Backing Wind Power
Watts Up With That?
Eric Worrall
1 December 2021

During a GB News interview with Nigel Farage, President Trump has warned UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson his renewable policies are leading Britain into an economic disaster.

Donald Trump tells Boris Johnson he is making a ‘big mistake’ by backing wind power

Speaking to Nigel Farage on GB News, the former US president says the energy source is only backed by environmentalists who ‘hate the world’

Boris Johnson is “making a big mistake” by trying to turn the UK into the Saudi Arabia of wind, Donald Trump has said.
Telegraph
Christopher Hope
30 November 2021

The former US president said that wind farms were “horrible”, “ridiculous”, “kill all the birds” and “start to rust” after a couple of years. They were only backed by environmentalists “who hate the world”, he said.

Mr Trump also took aim at a wind farm sited just off the coast of Aberdeen where he owns the Trump International Golf Links, describing it as a “shame” and the windmills as “monsters” in an interview with Nigel Farage on GB News on Wednesday.

Mr Johnson, the Prime Minister, has made increasing reliance on wind energy a cornerstone of his energy policy, telling the United Nations last year that he wanted to make the UK into the “Saudi Arabia of wind”, mimicking Riyadh’s dominance in the global oil market.

However, in his interview, Mr Trump said Mr Johnson was “wrong”, adding: “He’s making a big mistake.” Source

I would love to provide a GB News link to the interview but I couldn’t find the link – if anyone finds it please post in comments.

As for President Trump’s criticism of Boris Johnson’s energy policies, I completely agree with what I read in the Telegraph.

The utter inadequacy of renewables, especially in a country as far North as Britain, should be obvious to anyone who can do a little math. Trump is a businessman – he understands economics and cashflow, so he can do the math.

Even if you believe a little government money or market-distorting preference rules are required to kickstart the British green energy economy, ask yourself, what is the taxpayer exit strategy? What is the date at which the government money must end, otherwise renewable energy should be considered a failure?

If you can’t give a definite answer to this question, you are effectively admitting renewables are economically unviable, and cannot survive without open ended government support.

Update (EW): h/t Ben Vorlich – the link to the GB News interview https://www.gbnews.uk/farage-the-trump-interview (the “what they are doing is ridiculous” clip is here)
Watts Up With That