Month: September 2025

As many readers here will know, gas turbine electric generators (CCGT or combined-cycle power plants) are in short supply, due to the increase in demand for electricity worldwide.
Expected wait times for new equipment have been estimated up to 7 years for a facility ordered today.

Turbine makers, shell shocked from bust cycles that are still fresh in memory, have been loath to invest big to boost production.

Reuters:

 Renewable energy sources like wind and solar power are needed to meet rapidly growing energy demand in the United States amid near-term obstacles to increasing natural gas capacity, NextEra <NEE.N> CEO John Ketchum said on Tuesday.

Competition and high costs to obtain gas turbines, a construction labor shortage, and the costs associated with tariffs mean that it will take at least seven years to get new gas-fired power plants online, Ketchum said at the Politico Energy Summit.
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Manufacturers, having overbuilt and been burned twice in recent decades as demand for turbines waxed and crashed, have been cautious about ramping up production.

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Heatmap:

To the CEOs of all three companies, history would likely seem to justify this discipline. In 2017 and 2018, years of investment into capacity expansion coincided with a near-total collapse in global demand for gas turbines. This market crash was most likely the combined effect of low energy demand growth, energy efficiency improvements, continued use of coal power across Asia, the growing share of renewable energy on the grid, and investors’ realization that solar and wind energy could meaningfully undercut gas on price. All three companies laid off tens of thousands of employees, and the crash contributed to the complete breakup of General Electric and its partial spin-off into GE Vernova last year.

Continue reading “Gas Turbine Manufacturers Gun Shy about Increasing Production”

Questioning new nominees to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Senator Angus King (Independent of Maine) brought some truth to the table in regard to the true cost of renewable energy.

Listening to this now.

Union of Concerned Scientists:

Weather extremes such as heat waves and cold snaps, paired with an overreliance on methane gas, are taxing the New England electric grid and hitting ratepayers’ pocketbooks with the regional grid operator, ISO New England, reporting a 67% increase in the price of energy between 2024 and 2025. According to a report released today by RENEW Northeast, even a small offshore wind fleet can make a major difference for grid reliability and affordability in the region.

The report found that had 3,500 megawatts of offshore wind been operational during this past winter—equivalent to the output of two offshore wind projects currently under construction and two others proposed for the region—New England wholesale energy prices would have dropped more than 10%, saving consumers approximately $400 million collectively on their energy bills. The Union of Concerned Scientists is a member of RENEW Northeast, a nonprofit association of renewable energy industry and environmental interest groups, which commissioned the study by Daymark Energy Advisors.

Last Friday, the Trump administration issued a stop-work order to Revolution Wind—an offshore wind project that is nearly complete and will supply enough energy to power the equivalent of approximately 350,000 homes in Connecticut and Rhode Island. The out-of-the-blue directive from the Trump administration has been derided by governors of affected states, labor groups, and ISO New England, which warned of the harm this would have on regional grid reliability.

Continue reading “Trump’s War on Clean Energy Threatens his own Allies”

I interviewed Amy Westerfeldt a few years ago following up on her masterful “Drilled” podcast – indispensable to understand the psychological roots of climate denial.
We talked at the time about the weird confluence of insecure masculinity and climate denial.
She’s gone ahead and explored the topic in another very engaging series, “Carbon Bros“, of which I’ve listened to three of the four episodes.
All is not well with America’s men, most evidenced by the fact that so many idolize Donald Trump as a paragon of masculinity. The fossil fuel industry has been working to link burning, blasting, and drilling with “real” manhood for decades, and could be at the root of the American men’s pathetic insecurities.

Probably no coincidence that the most psychotically pro Fossil Fuel President in history was the first one to make Penis size a campaign issue in 2016.

Carbon Bros:

Amy Westervelt: But how did these dudes who just love martial arts and comedy before become mouthpieces for misogyny and climate denial?

Daniel Penny: So there are really a few different species of these dudes.

Amy Westervelt: Mm-hmm.

Daniel Penny: Some of these guys started as legacy media conservative darlings, like former Fox host Tucker Carlson, who has endorsed the idea that wind turbines kill whales and that sunning your scrotum increases sperm quality. And then you’ve got guys like Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA, or Dennis Prager of the conservative edutainment company, Prager U and Ben Shapiro, who started The Daily Wire– which hosts Jordan Peterson’s show, by the way.

These guys represent the next generation of right wing [00:13:00] voices with deep connections to fossil fuel donors like the Texas fracking billionaire is Ferris and Dan Wilkes.

Amy, I know you’re very familiar with the Wilkes Brothers.

Continue reading “Carbon Bros: Podcast Takes on Fossil Fuel’s Small Penis Complex”

Recommended by Jigar Shah.
Best heat pump video! It’s accurate, engaging, and sharable—let’s fight myths and misconception with good information.

It does a decent job explaining the physics, which most folks don’t understand.

Is it the best?
Open to other suggestions and nominations.

Readers may remember that Trump’s Department of Energy, lead by fracking millionaire and fossil fuel shill Chris Wright, has produced a bogus “Red Team” re-evaluation of climate science, written by the same gang of contrarian Fox News regulars that we’ve come to know over 30 years.

Today, a much needed corrective was issued by 85 actual, reputable climate scientists, which looks like it will be a valuable resource in this new age of climate denial.

The irony is that the Trump economic policies are so inept and self defeating, that even the fossil fuel industry they purport to help are suffering, deactivating drill rigs and laying off people.

New York Times:

More than 85 American and international scientists have denounced a Trump administration report that calls the threat of climate change overblown, saying the analysis is riddled with errors, misrepresentations and cherry-picked data to fit the president’s political agenda.

The scientists submitted their critique as part of a public comment period on the report, which was to close Tuesday night.

The five researchers who wrote the July report were handpicked by Chris Wright, the energy secretary, and they all reject the established scientific consensus that the burning of oil, gas and coal is dangerously heating the planet. The report acknowledged that the Earth is warming but said that climate change is “less damaging economically than commonly believed.”

The administration used the report to justify its recent announcement that it would repeal limits on greenhouse gas emissions that stem from burning fossil fuels.

Continue reading “Climate Scientists Trash DOE Denial Document”

Cue sad Trombone.

Bloomberg Green Daily (email):

In the run-up to Labor Day today, the White House has been touting President Donald Trump’s commitment to US workers, with the Interior Department  praising the men and women “fueling America’s offshore energy industry.”

But the administration has halted work on wind farms off the East Coast, disrupting plans at multibillion-dollar projects and risking jobs. That’s why all the praise for labor rings a bit hollow for union leader Patrick Crowley in Rhode Island, where a stop-work order halted construction of a nearly-finished offshore wind farm, sidelining roughly 1,000 workers. Crowley, the president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, said his members were stung by the administration’s move against the Revolution Wind project.

“A lot of them voted for Trump, and they didn’t vote to have their jobs cut,” Crowley said. “That’s the level of anger right now.”

Continue reading “Trump Wind Cancellation a Big FAFO for Trump Voting Workers”

WCCT-TV Hartford, CT:
NEW LONDON, Conn — There are new developments in the ongoing Revolution Wind saga, as state leaders make a push to save the offshore wind farm, after the President Donald Trump administration issued a stop work order nearly a week ago.

“It’s a real concern and, frankly, a dangerous precedent,” said Katie Dykes, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Progress on the offshore wind farm is now stuck at 80% completed. It is located just off the coast of Rhode Island, in New London. 

Energy company Ørsted said they only have 20 wind turbines left to install. State officials said the order came out of nowhere- and took almost everyone by surprise, including about 200 workers who may be out of a job.

The reason for the stop-work order has not been disclosed at this time, but according to Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, it builds on Trump’s memorandum from January that halted on and offshore wind projects pending federal approval.

The stop-work order was quickly criticized, where advocates worried it would make energy unaffordable to families and businesses, and put 1,200 construction jobs at risk, with thousands more indirect jobs according to data on the Revolution Wind website.

Continue reading “Connecticut Governor: Wind Shutdown will Cause Blackouts, High Prices”

Totally harshing the vibe.
The analogy to civilization in the age of climate dislocation is inescapable.