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Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

The answer is all of them, in due time. Here are the latest spectacular failures.

Birds Fry Every Two Minutes

It took 10 years, and hundreds-of-thousands of dead birds, before the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in California would meet its fate.

The Wall Street Journal explains in ‘A Prolific Executioner of Wildlife’

Performance has proven so poor that PG&E has exercised its right to terminate the contract, about which negotiations have been completed; there is no doubt that towers 1 and 3 will cease operations within roughly a year. And it appears to be the case that Edison too wants out: “the utility is in ‘ongoing discussions’ with the project’s owners and the federal government over ending the utility’s contract.”

Calculating the Number of Dead Birds

There are 525,600 minutes in a year.

At one fried bird every two minutes, assuming sunshine 50 percent of the time (more in summer and less in winter), that’s 525,600 / 4 or roughly 131,400 dear birds per year.

Over 10 years that would be 1.31 million dead birds. Ouch!

That may be the high side, perhaps even low side. However, it’s clear that hundreds of thousands of birds were killed in this boondoggle that was never profitable even with subsidies.

New Jersey Reaps the Wind, Again

It’s not just solar. Also note that Shell just backed out of a wind-energy project despite huge subsidies.

Please note New Jersey Reaps the Wind, Again

A Mountain of Unrecyclable Waste

The Institute for Energy Research notes Broken Windmill Blade Closes Nantucket Beaches

This story is from July 2024, but it contains pertinent details.

Massive Wind Graveyards

How Many Birds are Killed by Wind Turbines?

The American Bird Conservancy estimates approximately 538,000 wind turbine-caused bird deaths occur in the U.S. each year.

Raptors like Golden Eagles and nighttime migratory songbirds are particularly vulnerable. 

That estimate is from 2021. So double or triple it. But skeptics point out cats kill 2.4 billion birds a year. And 200 million birds are allegedly killed by automobiles each year.

Have cats killed any golden eagles?

Economic Reality

Let’s return to economic reality.

None of these projects are profitable, even with subsidies. That’s why they fail.

Meanwhile, consumers face monstrous hikes in energy bills to pay for these boondoggles as mounds of unrecyclable garbage piles up in massive wind graveyards.

Related Posts

August 19, 2020: Green Energy Failed Leaving Millions in California Blackout

September 5, 2023: Biden’s Green Energy Inflation Reduction Act Needs a Big Bailout Already

May 21, 2024: Hoot of the Day: No One Wants Green Energy if It’s Too Cheap

August 10, 2024: Another Green Energy Company Declares Bankruptcy, Thank Biden’s Tariffs

Finally please consider The Futility of Wind and Solar Power in One Easy to Understand Picture

Let’s return to the lead question. 

Q: How Many More Ridiculous Green Energy Projects Will Fail?

A: All of them, unfortunately not fast enough. And none of them should have been approved in the first place.

Addendum

One reader commented, “Onshore wind is cheap and kills a tiny amount of birds. To me it is an important part of future energy mix.”

I replied … If wind was cheap, without subsidies, then we would have more of it.

That we don’t, even with subsidies, is telling.

And if government would stop investing in losers, with subsidies, and just stay out of it, we would likely be further along with solutions.