It can be done, oh yes.
On Friday, Sean Carney writing on the Emerging Europe blog in the Wall Street Journal, explained that:
Support for the European Union’s climate and energy policy eroded further Friday as the Czech Republic became the latest member to denounce subsidies for clean but costly renewable energy and pledged to double down on its use of fossil fuels.
It followed Poland’s declaration that it would use its abundant domestic coal supplies for power generation rather than invest in costly renewable energy facilities. Spain abolished subsidies for photovoltaic power generation in July and the U.K.’s power markets regulator last month froze solar power subsidies for the rest of the year.
If renewables gave value for money and provided a reliable source of energy, this would not be happening. But the reality is these subsidy sinkholes are good for nothing but making landowners and renewables companies a huge amount of money, robbed from taxpayers and ever rising costs passed on to energy customers. But as Carney’s piece explains, there are other consequences to this ludicrous largesse:
The Czech Republic has seen a surge in renewable power production over the last four years due to rich cash payouts for investors in the sector. Since then public outrage over fast-rising power prices has forced politicians to put the brakes on subsidies. The payouts have been a drag on the economy, creating uncertainty on energy markets and preventing utilities from investing.
So Germany continues to build more coal fired power stations, the Czech Republic and Poland are reverting back to coal and economic reality bites in Spain. Yet the UK has in Ed Davey a minister for Energy and Climate Change who bitterly opposed the UK’s freeze in power subsidies and is demanding we go further down the road to the renewables abyss by ramping up the amount of underperforming wind turbines for the sake of ideology.
Ed Davey is doing this irrespective of the possible harm to our energy security, the ever rising cost to taxpayers and consumers, and the fact our European neighbours are calling time on a shocking financial waste that has delivered nothing close to what was promised in return. The EU is hamstrung, member states are rushing back for reliable and affordable energy sources, evidence that reversing the CO2 madness on energy can be done.
Yet despite this the British are being dragged into penury by a delusional idiot who is happy to squander other people’s money to satisfy his vanity and desperation to be seen as virtuous. And while Davey picks our pockets to push his policy agenda and describes realist opponents in the Conservative Party as its stone age wing, without any sense of irony his Lib Dem socialist mate Vince Cable has the nerve to describe the Tories as the nasty party. Satire is truly dead.
Autonomous Mind 
By all means criticise Davey and Huhne but it’s important to remember that the Tories would have done the same if they weren’t in coalition. Dave always wanted to lead the “greenest government ever”. There may be more eco loons per head in the Fib Dems than in the Conservative Party but Cameron would nevertheless have found plenty of unthinking, careerist believers in AGW among his own MPs to do what Davey is doing now.
Good post, nothing to add……… But as you say AM but I ask it again, despite the eco-lunatics of the powerful German green party and in spite of EU competencies, Germany is ignoring them all – the Germans ‘get it’ – industry is too important to ignore. Thus, Energy policy is corrected – construction of new coal fired power plant can be and is being facilitated in Germany – why can’t it be so – over here in Britain?
Or, does the guardian [+ the BBC] and a readership of less than 200k – run energy policy in Britain?
I think it must be so.
Ideology.
Don’t despair. The Invisible Hand has muscle, and to spare. It will squeeze the ecoloons til the pips squeak, to coin a phrase. If that doesn’t suffice, a sharp uppercut or two with its brass knucks will put paid to them.
Reblogged this on Cornwall Wind Watch.
It’s even worse here in Scotland. The present Scottish government intend to do away with fossil fuelled cars by 2040.
Richard S. Courtney wrote in his 2006 article ” A suggestion for meeting the UK Government’s renewable energy target because the adopted use of windfarms cannot meet it ” :
Windfarms for power generation provide intermittent power so they merely displace thermal power stations onto standby mode or to operate at reduced efficiency while the thermal power stations wait for the wind to
change. They make no significant reduction to CO2 emissions because thermal power stations continue to use their fuel and to produce their emissions while operating in standby mode or with reduced efficiency that can increase their emissions at low output. And this need for
continuously operating backup means that windfarms can only provide negligible useful electricity to electricity grid supply systems. But the large scale use of windfarms requires upgrading of an electricity grid, more complex grid management, and operation of additional thermal power stations to protect against power cuts in time of supply failure. These effects
increase the cost of electricity supplied by the grid in addition to the capital, maintenance and operating costs of the windfarms themselves. And the windfarms cause significant environmental damage.
Click to access courtney_2006_lecture.pdf
Leo Smith MA ( electrical sciences ) has a good article, ” Limitations of ‘ renewable ‘ energy ”
Click to access Renewable%20Energy%20Limitations.pdf