Photo by Kim Hansen. Postprocessing by Richard Bartz and Kim Hansen. | Wikimedia
By Jo Nova
““The green transition in Denmark has stalled right now”
Denmark was the posterchild for the wind industry. It has the largest share of wind power in its national grid, and is home to the industry giants, Vestas and Orstead — two of the world’s largest wind-manufacturers . Denmark is planning a large expansion in wind energy (or it was). But when the government offered up three areas of the North Sea that were described as “among the best in the world”, the deadline came and went last Thursday and not a single bid was received.
Wind energy is free and no one wants it…
This is a huge shift from the situation in 2021 when there were so many bids for one wind plant, it ended up being settled by a lottery.
Denmark Gets No Bids in Largest-Ever Offshore Wind Tender
By Sanne Wass and Will Mathis Bloomberg
High costs and power price risks made auction undesirable
The Danish Energy Agency didn’t receive a single offer by Thursday’s deadline in the tender to develop three offshore wind farms, it said in a statement. It will now initiate a dialog with the market to find out why.
Between the European Union and the UK, countries aim to have some 150 gigawatts of capacity by the end of the decade, more than quadruple today’s level. The failure of the Danish tender puts that goal further out of reach and similar struggles to attract new investment in neighboring Sweden show it’s not an isolated case.
“The green transition in Denmark has stalled right now,” Kristian Jensen, chief executive officer of industry group Green Power Denmark, said in a statement. “Too few wind turbines are being built both at sea and on land, and if that situation does not change, we will continue to depend on electricity from brown energy sources.”
One industry magazine is doing damage control, and blames the “Danish auction design”. But the key problem with their design apparently is that it doesn’t have billions of dollars of subsidies. The people of Denmark are not even paying for the grid connection…
So the free market is telling us that building wind towers in the ocean is a stupid way to make electricity.
No offshore bids in Denmark – disappointing but sadly not surprising
Wind Europe
Denmark’s latest 3 GW offshore wind auction round ended without any bids. That’s a huge disappointment for Denmark and for Europe’s wider energy security and electrification efforts.
Why did the Danish auction fail to attract bidders?
The main reason for the Danish auction attracting less industry interest than similar offshore wind auctions in Poland, the Netherlands and the UK lies in the Danish auction design.
The Danish auction system does not foresee any form of state support or revenue stabilisation model – such as the Contracts for Difference (CfD) used in many other European countries. Instead offshore wind developers are asked to pay for the right to build a wind farm. Denmark’s uncapped negative bidding creates an unhealthy race to the bottom and unnecessarily increases the upfront costs for offshore wind developers. On top of that Denmark does not pay for the grid connection to the offshore wind farms, instead developers have to take on these extra costs.
The European Union want to pave the oceans with wind turbines. At the end of last year they had 20GW of offshore wind, but they want that to grow to 60GW in just the next five years, and reach 300 GW by 2050.
If that’s going to happen, it will take monster subsidies to conquer the sea of apathy.
h/t Greg M
This is perhaps because of the looming US presidential changeover . The cheap money is about to get shut off and nobody wants to get left holding the bag . Without subsidies it wont float…
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As multi-billionaire investor Warren Buffett explained in one of his financial advice news letters several years ago.
It would be interesting to watch the wind and solar installations investment situation if Dutton Plan is implemented here, free enterprise free market with minimal government interference by picking winners so no new incentive subsidy contracts.
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As Warren Buffett also said:
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LOL… classic satire i would’ve thought?
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Peter Dutton should ban all offshore Wind Towers around Australia. Not a single one should be built. Then, immediately stop the subsidies for any new Solar Fields and Wind Towers on land.
Then, support the Gas/Coal Fired Power Stations. The QLD LNP is supporting the QLD Coal Fired Power Stations.
Then, start on Nuclear.
Of course, the Federal LNP need to get elected first.
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Peter Dutton during the past week said the government he will lead will cancel the offshore Port Stephens Wind Turbines project and I expect that the Coalition will stop all others that can be stopped at the time they are elected.
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Then, immediately stop the subsidies for any new Solar Fields and Wind Towers on land.
Do the subsidies include the cost of the transmission lines to connect the towers (or their hub) to the existing electrical grids?
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The Danes have been building wind turbines since 1975 and it has cost them a fortune. When the wind doesn’t blow they get electricity from Norway and Sweden hydro (at a cost) and when it does blow they get overwhelmed by excess from Germany (at lower prices).
There is no money in turbines in Denmark, a lot of older one are sitting derelict – so the Danes aren’t going to subsidise a big loss to help Wind Farmers rip off their taxpayers.
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Wind farm unreliables, – destroyers of landscapes
and destroyers of sea scapes.
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They could sell the space to Australian subsidy harvesters.
Recall that Australia already has a concept of a “virtual power plant” as Jo mentioned a few days ago. The virtual power plant “generates” electricity by load shedding large industrial consumers (the few we have left) to “produce” electricity. So, if for example you load shed an aluminium smelter such as Tomago in NSW which uses 850MW, you have actually “generated” 850MW.
So this space in the North Sea could be used to install non-windmills to produce non-electricity to harvest real subsidies from the Australian taxpayer.
Gosh, you could also probably get a subsidy to build the world’s longest undersea non-cable to connect the non-windmills to Australia.
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Too close to true.
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How long before abandoned windmill foundations start ripping the bottoms out of ships?
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That concept would be a really good one for The Babylon Bee or Pauline Hansens cartoon series to do a satirical skit on.
It would be hilarious.
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TRUMP will expose and demolish the whole renewables scam in the United States.
Hopefully the failure of this sale is a sign that this is influencing other “renewables” decisions elsewhere.
And with the US and European scams out of the picture, that leaves the diehard Australia that remains fanatically committed to the renewables scam and UN/WEF decrees (supported by all Uniparty factions).
All the renewables scammers and parasites will come here
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My guess is that Trump will abolish the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in a decisive strategic move.
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The latest news from Wales after the storm about solar and wind farms is: ‘Fly, fly away with me’.
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As the old Scottish sea shanty used to say:
Let the wind blow high
Let the wind blow low –
$quillions to be made out of ‘free’ wind yet no takers? Could it be the deplorable garbage majority who voted for Orange Man Bad have altered the course of subsidy harvesting history around the world?
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At last physics is overpowering finance, not to mention gross political ignorance!
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Political ignorance of science, that is. Which is matched by public ignorance of science.
I wonder how many people walking down the street know that 1 litre of rainwater weighs 1 kilogram?
Or that 1 cubic metre of rainwater weighs a tonne?
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Or, that the IQ of a flock of ‘Pollies’ is NET ZERO……………..
They always seem to be in a ‘Clucking Flurry’ to get nowhere at all.
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And I wonder how many know that carbon dioxide is different from carbon. And thatbthe use of one for other is at least wrong, and often fraudulent.
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A commentator in The Australian today claimed that they are the same “because Carbon is part of Carbon Dioxide”. Not worth challenging the idiots.
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This is also good because:
1) It presents the slaughter of birds, bats and insects.
2) It prevents harm to marine mammals and crustaceans which get confused by the electric fields of power cables and probably infrasound.
3) There wont be a hazard to shipping.
4) It prevents massive visual pollution and infrasound on land.
5) Less windmills = lower electricity costs to consumers.
6) It prevents climate change due to large wind subsidy farms altering wind patterns.
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Denmark needs all the free, unobstructed, wind it can get to blow away all the recalcitrant cow pharts
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There is something rotten in the State of Denmark. Or maybe not –
https://nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/famous/something-rotten-state-denmark/
Maybe Denmark is waking Up. Wake Up Australian ‘Pollies’. Wake Up Polly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpTI6SACDP0
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If Labor/Greens/Teals are returned in a few months I’m sure they’ll order thousands of the toxic wind bird mincers and they’ll subsidise it to the max, until they run out of taxpayer’s money.
We can only hope that Trump, Trudeau and even the lousy UK Labor donkeys can talk some sense into our far left loonies. But I’ll believe it when I see it.
I still hope the Coalition can win, but it will be close.
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Governor Trudeau…😆
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Just think that the Eemian was much hotter than our Holocene, yet the following glacial was able to reduce co2 levels to just 180 ppm.
What if the much colder oceans then are able to reduce co2 levels to 150 ppm in a few thousand years and plant life starts to die off?
During the next 90,000 year full glaciation Humans at that future time could be cursing the lefty loonies of the 21st century for trying to reduce co2 levels.
Who knows?
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2017/06/30/life-on-earth-was-nearly-doomed-by-too-little-co2/
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Unfortunately we won’t be around to say “We told you so”. We want a sign now, something so in your face that even Chris Bowen will say “whoa. We going the wrong way.”.
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Similar thing happened in UK, they knew government would be forced to offer bigger subsidies. It’s just a game to some.
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The winds of reality have blown away the bird choppers!
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All piss and wind and nobody wants it!!
“It will now initiate a dialog with the market to find out why.”
Or it will now offer more tax free bribes until the price is low enough to attract a face saving offer!
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Just now, a Victoria greens spokesman MP was interviewed by Tom Eliott on radio 3AW, the big one.
The leader, medico Dr Tim Read, was comparing nuclear electricity with battery. He said (my words) that a 700 megawatt nuclear reactor was small and that we already had 700 megawatt batteries.
This is profoundly scientifically ignorant.
Whereas the nuclear generator produces year after year, that battery under similar load, would produce for a few minutes to a few hours, then stop, awaiting recharge. In a time of power shortage, needing the battery to help avoid a blackout, typically there would be no electricity available to charge the battery again.
Heaven help us when policy is dictated by such ignorance.
A mW is not a mWh, the h being hours. Geoff S
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Correct! This deception is standard. Grid batteries are presented in MW as though they were generators. MW is the discharge capacity. It is important for use in grid stabilization but not otherwise.
A 100 Mw 4 hour battery can produce 400 MWh. A 100 MW generator can produce 2,400 MWh a day, day after day. Over 60,000 MWh in a month.
The ignorance cited is appalling.
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Your observation is very common. Not only politicians, but also spokespeople for various quasi government organizations representing renewable energy projects in regional Victoria. I heard one guy on local radio declare that the state would run out of electricity if the power lines were not built to connect to all the far flung wind and solar sites. Really???? What about the power lines already built, connecting to the ultra reliable thermal power generators presently doing the bulk of the work. They just tell lies and worse, get away with it.
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The definition of Gross Ignorance is 100 Australian ‘Pollies’ (apart from the few smart ones that is).
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Whoops. I mean 144 and not 100. Dash my non typing skills.
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Denmark’s terms were simply unacceptable.
https://www.offshorewind.biz/2024/12/06/zero-bids-in-danish-offshore-wind-tender/
“The projects tendered in this round will be built without state subsidies and with a yearly concession payment. This means, that the bidders will participate in the tenders by bidding a yearly concession payment to the Danish state across a 30-year period, for the right to use the seabed.
The concession payment is combined with the Danish state co-owning each of the tendered offshore wind farms with a minority ownership of 20 per cent.”
No wonder no interest
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Any reasonable person in Denmark would be asking why they have the highest electricity price in the developed world (South Australia is not a nation) and why would any sensible nation want to task they wind power companies with the job of producing electricity.
Orsted share price is now 25% of peak price just three years ago. Vestas is 30% of whjaty iit was three years ago.
Danish retirement funds were badly burnt in these collapses. I expect they need to burden the next generation with much higher theft through electricity bills if they want more wind power.
The writing is on the wall with Trump pulling the strings globally. It gets easier every year to point out to gullible people that they have been sucked in by the climate scam.
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The UK has the highest electrickery prices in the Developed World. Oh wait. Maybe the UK is no longer in the Developed World.
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Nope. Ireland is higher, followed by Italy, then UK. Denmark’s cost is a bit lower than Germany, fifth highest. UK’s industrial power cost is the highest. UK has the highest amount of wind, even higher than Germany.
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Leftists here claim that SA has produced 70% of grid demand from wind turbines, but fail to add that was not constantly as required.
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If SA had no Interconnectors, it would be the Blackout State. And it is building another one to NSW. LOL. When the Eraring Power Station goes down then there will be no surplus power for export from NSW. In fact NSW will be stuffed. So the Connector will be useless. SA will then rely on Sictoria. Next door WA can’t help as WA is smart and keeps its Electrical Power to itself. Wind and Solar just cannot do it for SA or anyone else on Planet Earth. SA has some Gas but destroyed the Coal Fired Plants.
SA the smart State. LOL. More like being in a right state.
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Eraring will not close. Nor will Vales Point.
“The People” can’t be that stupid.
If anybody tries to close even one, that will be the time to man the barricades.
Never forget: Carbon dioxide does no harm.
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Eraring will not close. Nor will Vales Point.
I sincerely hope not. As long as they don’t blow them up so they can be restarted, although I would think the grid would probably go black before they could even get the dynamite ready.
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Oh, what a shame, I’m heartbroken.
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The truth is out there …
06:43 PM ET 02/10/2015
Economic Systems: The alarmists keep telling us their concern about global warming is all about man’s stewardship of the environment. But we know that’s not true. A United Nations official has now confirmed this.
At a news conference last week in Brussels, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, admitted that the goal of environmental activists is not to save the world from ecological calamity but to destroy capitalism.
“This is the first time in the history of mankind that we are setting ourselves the task of intentionally, within a defined period of time, to change the economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years, since the Industrial Revolution,” she said.
Referring to a new international treaty environmentalists hope will be adopted at the Paris climate change conference later this year, she added: “This is probably the most difficult task we have ever given ourselves, which is to intentionally transform the economic development model for the first time in human history.”
The only economic model in the last 150 years that has ever worked at all is capitalism. The evidence is prima facie: From a feudal order that lasted a thousand years, produced zero growth and kept workdays long and lifespans short, the countries that have embraced free-market capitalism have enjoyed a system in which output has increased 70-fold, work days have been halved and lifespans doubled.
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The Australian Feral Guv’ment has a perverse view of its obligations. It is supposed to represent the Electorate. In reality it is stealing from the Poor, the Working Class and now the Middle Class and giving money and largesse to the Rich. The Australian Labour Party no longer represents Working people.
Begone in 2025 and forever after.
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Just read a very long thread on X , authored by Johan Christian Sollid on this subject and the general Danish energy situation. Basically, they’re stuffed.
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Hahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahaha…
and then you have Germany… rofl!
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Nut Zero puts up the cost of doing everything including Nut Zero … that is why it can never be achieved, because the cost is infinite.
PS. The Russians know it … that is why they supported the west going for Nut Zero!
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Similar to Oregon, which also didn’t receive any bids for its offshore auction. And Maine put a hold on their offshore projects, as they wanted better turbine blades after the Nantucket blade failure, but it seems no supplier is willing to oblige. Then we have New York State, who had to reject all offers because they were too expensive. And all of Hywind’s offshore turbines had to be towed back into harbour for “heavy maintenance “. And lastly, UK Kincardine offshore wind farm lost A$57.5m last year.
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Perhaps the Trump Effect will result in a general return closer to common sense functional politics.
In the CAGW/NetZero sphere, if not the whole shebang, it may be too late.
The minds of the COP attendee post graduate political strata have been gutted.
Didn’t Bono promise to drive his EV off a cliff if Trump returned?
They have crippled the Western World with their affluence addled Decarbonize cultish haute couture Utopian fantasies.
They will tap on the altimeter as they unwittingly fly closer to the ground muttering “that can’t be right”…
and will never consider just looking out the window.
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