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Couldn't the people who own the windmills just as easily hold the country hostage as you put it? Who do you think is paying to build and operate these things?
by typeofhuman 5y ago
Couldn't the people who own the windmills just as easily hold the country hostage as you put it? Who do you think is paying to build and operate these things?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- mjhay 5y agoInvestors? Coal plants could be hypothetically be shut down and hold the economy hostage too. Not sure your point.
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago> Couldn't the people who own the windmills just as easily hold the country hostage as you put it? It’s easier to enforce American political will on a wind farm in Texas than a pump in Saudi/Siberia.
- _-david-_ 5y agoIt is just as easy to enforce American political will on a wind farm in Texas as it is on a oil refinery in Texas.
- fullstop 5y agoPresumably the windmills would be domestic and not foreign.
- typeofhuman 5y agoGood point. I made a faulty assumption. A lot of windmill farms are popping up offshore, however.
- danans 5y agoOffshore within the territorial waters of the US, so again they can't hold their customers hostage.
- fullstop 5y agoEven those are not in international waters, so I don't see how this makes any difference.
- beembeem 5y agoI would be curious if you could point to a foreign offshore wind farm connected to the US grid. I've never heard of this. Presumably they're all within US controlled territorial water.
- JacobThreeThree 5y agoInteresting to see this playing out. https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/06/25/texas-chinese-wind-farm-national-security-espionage-electrical-grid/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/06/25/texas-chinese-wind-farm... https://www.politico.eu/article/chinese-wind-farm-investments-stoke-concerns-in-sweden/ https://www.politico.eu/article/chinese-wind-farm-investment...
- Someone1234 5y agoThey literally could not, because they're within US legal jurisdiction (being physically in the US), emergency powers can be used when life or liberty at threatened to keep them operating while the disputes are resolved likely through the courts.
- danans 5y agoOne of the great things about electricity is that its sources are highly substitutable - the end uses don't care whether their energy comes from wind, solar, hydro, nuclear, natural gas, etc. Also, the inherent intermittency of wind and solar makes it even harder for generators to hold the market hostage, as they don't control the timing when they generate power. To curtail energy supply would be to undermine the economics of the capital investments into these projects, as it would be missed revenue.
- JaimeThompson 5y agoThat same reasoning applies to the current large oil companies who aren't really doing everything they can to increase production because doing so would bring them a lower rate of profit.