Lessons From the Eclipse
Electrifying everything via renewable sources is dangerously asinine.
The total solar eclipse this week was totally cool, for sure. How lucky we Vermonters were that we could just walk outside, take in this once in a generation natural phenomenon, then pop back into our houses to resume whatever it was we were doing twenty minutes earlier. Not so for the estimated 160,000 tourists who ventured here via automobile to experience three minutes of mid-afternoon twilight.
Why were we so favored by the goddess Selene? Perhaps Vermont more than other states was in need of some divine lesson-giving regarding mortal hubris and our politicians’ absurd promises that they can control the weather through renewable energy and electrification policies. A couple of news items highlight the lessons we hope they learn….
The first story is out of Massachusetts chronicling the odyssean battle (might as well keep rolling with the Greek mythology references) EV driving Bay State residents had getting back to their own home towns: “Massachusetts family among Tesla owners who waited hours to charge car after total solar eclipse.”
I had to rush back because I noticed the battery on my Tesla was running low and all the charging stations at Jay Peak were taken," said Monica Livesey.
When the Livesey family found a charging station in St. Johnsbury, there were lines of electric vehicles dozens deep.
"I got there with one mile only to find out there were about 60 cars waiting to be charged," Livesey said…. The Livesey family waited more than four hours to charge their Tesla….
The Livesey family arrived at their Wakefield home at 4 a.m. Tuesday.
Of note, the drive from St. Johnsbury to Wakefield, MA, should normally take a little over two and a half hours. And, more importantly, your standard gas station with eight pumps (the same number as there are chargers at the St. J Tesla station) would have been able to fill the tanks of sixty internal combustion engine cars in a little over half an hour.
Now, consider that this happened on a pretty nice day by April-in-Vermont standards, to a bunch of relatively happy people who had just enjoyed a communally uplifting experience that they had planned for in advance. Next, instead, imagine that this situation was the result of an evacuation order brought on by a natural disaster – a flood, wildfire, ice storm, killer bee infestation…. Definitely a different vibe with less forgiving consequences.
Take it a step further and imagine this happens in 2035 when Vermont politicians have decided for us that no more internal combustion engines can be sold in Vermont, and the percentage of electric vehicles on the roads competing for those chargers are multiples of what they are now. Yeah, yikes.
And, lastly, consider what would happen if the very natural disaster that required the evacuation order knocked out the electrical grid. Yeah, we’re screwed.
Which brings us to lesson story number two! This one from our very own WCAX, “GMP calls on battery power from customers during solar eclipse.”
The opening line states, “As could be expected, solar power production tanked during Monday’s total eclipse.” Yes, when things get between the sun and solar panels – the moon every few decades, but somewhat more frequently clouds, and significantly more irritatingly eighteen inches of April snowfall – solar power production tanks. This is why solar power is considered to be an intermittent, unreliable power source. To make it a state policy to become more reliant on an expensive unreliable power source when a cheaper, reliable source is available is, yes indeed, as stupid as it sounds. Yet here we are about to pass a Net Zero by 2030 Renewable Energy Standard.
The story goes on, “But what could have otherwise caused complications in the regional power grid was instead offset by battery storage.” Okay. All good, well, and fine about battery storage, being able to backfill some of Green Mountain Power’s demand during the eclipse, but the notion that three minutes of off-schedule twilight-level sunshine could cause complications for the regional power grid – because we are increasingly and purposefully relying more on solar electricity – should be a serious red flag regarding the energy policy path we’re being led down. That’s the real story, crack reporters at WCAX, and you missed it!
As I have said before and will say here again, if you really believe we are in for a future featuring more extreme and/or erratic weather events (even if you don’t, but especially if you do) intentionally increasing dependence upon intermittent, weather-dependent energy sources like solar and wind defies all logic, common sense, and basic intelligence.
Like Icarus consumed by arrogance, our elected representatives are heedless of the warnings, are taking us too close to the sun — literally in this case — with technology that can’t handle what they’re asking of it, and as that story goes so too will this end badly. (Just had to get that last Greek mythology reference in there to wrap things up neatly! Thanks for indulging!)
Rob Roper is a freelance writer with 20 years of experience in Vermont politics including three years service as chair of the Vermont Republican Party and nine years as President of the Ethan Allen Institute, Vermont’s free market think tank.
Media Notes: Rob Roper will be on WVMT’s Morning Drive on Thursday, April 18, 7:00 am. Tune in at 620AM, 96.3FM, or streaming HERE.
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