When The Wind Doesn’t Blow: Weak Breeze Lowered U.S. Turbine Output In 2023
The abrupt decline in wind production illustrates a vulnerability in weather-dependent power sources embraced by the Biden administration
The Biden administration announced its "ambitious" plans in September to expand American offshore wind energy "while advancing environmental justice, protecting biodiversity, and promoting ocean co-use."
A seventh whale has turned up dead along the New York-New Jersey coastline inside a two-month window, prompting concerns about Democratic governments' coveted offshore wind energy projects and whether they have left behind environmental justice, biodiversity, and ocean "co-use" in their wake.
It is presently unclear how the nearly 25-foot-long humpback whale that turned up on the Jersey Shore last week perished. The Marine Mammal Stranding Center took samples, but the results can reportedly take months to produce.
A 30-foot humpback washed ashore in Atlantic City on Jan. 7, prompting similar agitation and puzzlement.
"What a sad end to an animal in the prime of her life and an endangered species," Cindy Zipf, executive director of Clean Ocean Action, told NJ Advance Media.
Zipf added, "The federal government should have been here with busloads of people really doing an examination if they were taking this seriously."
Clean Ocean Action noted, "We are deeply troubled by the heretofore lack of comprehensive public response from federal agencies for their protection, which is required by law under the Endangered Species Act, among others."
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spokesman Lauren Gaches said after the seventh marine giant was found dead that "NOAA Fisheries and our stranding network partners are developing a plan to conduct an examination that may help determine a cause of death."
\u201c\u26a0\ufe0f The seventh dead whale in less than two months has washed up on the New York-New Jersey coastline. The humpback whale was found on a beach in Brigantine, mere miles away from where another dead whale washed up six days ago. https://t.co/pUfPf1Awfg\u201d— njdotcom (@njdotcom) 1673632801
Fox News Digital reported that legislators, fishermen, and marine activists are calling for an investigation into whether offshore wind farms are to blame for the whales' deaths.
Meghan Lapp, the liaison for Seafreeze fisheries, told "Tucker Carlson Tonight," "I can’t authoritatively say that all of the whales that are washing up are because of offshore wind farms. But what I can tell you is that the seven whales that washed up off New Jersey in the past month have all washed up during intense geotechnical surveying of wind farm leases off of New Jersey."
"On the East Coast, there has been an unusual mortality event for humpback whales from 2016 until now," said Lapp. "The only thing that has changed in the ocean in that time is the fact there have been offshore wind surveys occurring from 2015 until now. Now, magically, there are a bunch of humpback whales dying."
TheBlaze previously reported on a November study in the Springer Nature journal "Communications Earth & Environment" that revealed that the effects of these wind farms are "substantial."
The study looked at the impact of wind farms in the North Sea and found that "the ongoing offshore wind farm developments can have a substantial impact on the structuring of coastal marine ecosystems on basin scales."
Wind farms generate "an increase in sediment carbon in deeper areas of the southern North Sea ... and decreased dissolved oxygen inside an area with already low oxygen concentration."
The resultant changes in nutrient concentration could start "a cause-effect chain that translates into changes in primary production and effectively alters the food chain."
Ultimately, fish and seabird species, marine fauna, and other aspects of the environment could be "severe[ly]" affected.
A 2019 report from the international law firm White & Case also indicated that wind farms in U.S. waters, such as those supported by the Biden administration and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D), "have the potential to impact a wide range of marine life, including scallops, quahogs, clams, finfish, marine mammals and sea turtles."
Some now suspect that whales are on this list of wind farms' victims.
NJ.com reported that a New Jersey congressman, state senator, and others have called for a moratorium on offshore wind pre-construction pending the findings of an investigation into their impact on whale populations.
Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew (N.J.) issued a statement on Friday, saying, "Since offshore wind projects were being proposed by Governor Murphy to be built off the coast of New Jersey, I have been adamantly opposed to any activity moving forward until research disclosed the impacts these projects would have on our environment and the impacts on the fishing industry."
The New Jersey congressman added, "Ocean life is being put at risk as our Governor and President force through their Green New Deal policies, without giving full consideration to their real-world impacts. We have seen a complete lack of transparency from New Jersey's leaders, as well as D.C. politicians who are ramming through these projects in order to push their climate agenda."
New Jersey state Sen. Vince Polistina (R) said, "We should suspend all work related to offshore wind development until we can determine the cause of death of these whales, some of which are endangered."
"The work related to offshore wind projects is the primary difference in our waters, and it’s hard to believe that the death of (seven) whales on our beaches is just a coincidence," added Polistina.
The Associated Press noted that Vice Sera, the mayor of Brigantine, New Jersey — where the latest dead whale turned up — has also called for a halt to offshore wind site preparations.
Despite calling the spate of whale deaths "tragic," Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy indicated developers shouldn't have to stop survey work prior to construction of the farms.
Murphy said the whales were dying "before there was any other offshore wind activity. Unfortunately it also looks like some of these whales have been hit by vessels. But we take it very seriously and we'll continue to."
On Jan. 11, Murphy announced that the wind farm company Atlantic Shores will lease 35 acres of land at a New Jersey port in Salem County.
Murphy claimed the deal carried with it the "promise of a healthier environment for future generations."
Extra to possibly killing whales and depreciating biodiversity along American's eastern coast, the wind farms require a great deal of pollution to create.
TheBlaze previously reported that the construction, operation, and maintenance of offshore wind farms generate a tremendous amount of pollution. For each 500 megawatt installation, between 12,571 and 18,857 barrels of marine fuel are consumed. That amounts to 1.2% the amount of fuel consumed yearly by Amtrak.
These installations also require maintenance over the course of their 20-year lifespans, which in turn involve the use of a great deal of fossil fuels.
As the turbines are retired over the next 20 years, the U.S. will be left with an estimated 720,000 tons of unrecyclable blade material to dispose of.
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A wind farm in Germany is being demolished to make room for a coal mine expansion.
German energy giant RWE is tearing down wind turbines to expand a neighboring coal mine in an effort to deal with the country's energy crisis. The area of the wind farm near the small town of Lützerath will be used to expand the Garzweiler open pit mine in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The wind farm features eight wind turbines. One wind turbine was dismantled last week, two more are scheduled to be deconstructed some time next year, and the final five will be taken down by the end of 2023.
RWE officials admit that the move appears to be "paradoxical."
"We realize this comes across as paradoxical, but that is as matters stand," RWE spokesperson Guido Steffen said in a statement.
The Ministry of Economy of North Rhine-Westphalia added, “If Lützerath were to be preserved, the production volume required to maintain the security of supply over the next eight years could not be achieved, the stability of the opencast mine could not be guaranteed and the necessary recultivation could not be carried out."
In addition, RWE will reactivate three lignite-fired coal units that were previously on standby.
"The three lignite units each have a capacity of 300 megawatts (MW). With their deployment, they contribute to strengthening the security of supply in Germany during the energy crisis and to saving natural gas in electricity generation," RWE said in September. "Originally, it was planned that the three reserve power plant units affected would be permanently shut down on September 30, 2022, and September 30, 2023, respectively."
Germany’s cabinet approved the decision to revive the unused coal units after energy prices skyrocketed because of the sanctions issued due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
North Rhine-Westphalia and RWE had previously declared they would stop using fossil fuels by 2030.
Climate change activists are furious about the transition from wind power to fossil fuels.
Last week, there were thousands of demonstrators who participated in protests against high energy prices in six German cities: Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Hanover, and Dresden.
As of September 2021, 60% of Germany's gas came from Russia, but last month it was down to zero.
Reuters reported, "Germany imported 37.6% of gas from Norway in September compared with 19.2% in the same month last year, while Dutch deliveries climbed to 29.6% of imports from 13.7%, data from utility industry group BDEW showed."
Last week, BASF – the world’s largest chemicals group by revenue – announced that the company will "permanently" downsize in Europe because high energy costs have made the region increasingly uncompetitive.
"The European chemical market has been growing only weakly for about a decade [and] the significant increase in natural gas and power prices over the course of this year is putting pressure on chemical value chains,” BASF chief executive Martin Brudermüller said on Wednesday.