Things are not looking good for the Wind Industry.
Trump issued an executive order yesterday temporarily halting offshore wind lease sales in federal waters and pausing the issuance of approvals, permits, and loans for both onshore and offshore wind projects.
He said in his speech, “We have more oil and gas than any country, and we are going to use it, and we are not going to do the wind thing…”
The sector is no longer subsidized and has no special tax breaks any longer. The Wind Sector also has not resolved the problem of retiring the blades that require replacements.
Wind energy is an unstable energy source. You need wind to get energy. It is a solution for some areas, but it is not for others. AI will be the next big game in town, and AI data centers are energy hogs that make the data centers of Google, Amazon, and the CIA blush. So, wind energy is too small for our energy needs in the near future.
The Wind Energy companies also have not resolved the disposition of retired windmill blades, which is a nasty eye sore.
Trump also pointed out that many windmills are out of commission.
According to Energy Follower, modern wind turbines are designed to last 20 years.
Proper monitoring and preventative maintenance two to three times per year (increasing with frequency as the turbine ages) can extend their lifetime to 25 years.
Wind turbine decommissioning presents a significant waste management challenge. After 20 or so years of production, most turbines are decommissioned. This means the entire construction must go!
So my outlook (and the past two outlooks from me on the sector,, you can see here and here) is bleak. Trump’s inauguration is the death blow to wind energy.
One of my Pilot Car 101 graduates did last month the WITPAC certification and got onto the wind energy, and her observation was that wind sucks. She said she is sitting around most of the time and makes less money than with general oversize freight. Her conclusion…why bother?
And that seems to be the theme that haunts wind energy.
Herbert
