Comments on: Otter Tail Corporation’s (OTTR) DMI Industries To Cut Workforce

By: Bruce Oksolruc

Bruce Oksolruc — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:20:10 +0000

China has so much money (American debt) it doesn’t know what to do with it, and it’s building a new coal-powered plant every week (on average).

China recognizes the problems with pollution and says it is investing in “clean” coal technology.

The fact that China can find enough money to build a power plant / week but using coal, still tells me volumes about efficiency of wind.

China needs coal-powered plants to back up wind generators which are unpredictable.

It’s much more than just capital. See status of T. Boone Pickens mega-wind farm in west Texas. I understand it’s dead in the water, but I could be wrong. He estimated in 2006 it would cost $6 billion dollars; in 2007, it went to $10 billion, and in 2008 interview with The Guardian (UK) he admitted it was now up to $12 billion.

Yes, he said credit was a problem, but $12 billion for a project estimated to be $6 billion, again, tells me volumes about the credibility of wind.

By the way, CERN’s chief, this week, June 3, 2009, said wind energy was illusory, and said “we” neeed to move to solar. I find solar even more illusory than wind in the next 50 years.

Yes, 100 years from now we will be using renewables and/or nuclear but the facts seem to speak for themselves.

Everybody wants it (wind) but no one is building it to scale.

By: Jared

Jared — Tue, 05 May 2009 18:15:05 +0000

Bruce, this is more about the difficulty in raising money to build large projects of any kind right now rather than a carbon vs. wind issue. Banks have dramatically reduced lending, investors are not investing as they were, etc. It’s a slow down that effects everyone.

By: Bruce Oksol

Bruce Oksol — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 02:37:14 +0000

With all the attention thrown at wind-generated power, and the fact that “everybody” loves wind-generated power, this tells me volumes about the cost effectiveness (or efficiency) of wind power vs hydrocarbon (coal, natural gas).

For me, in a climate in which the government and the people are “demanding” wind power, and yet we don’t have it, suggests the costs are prohibitive. What am I missing?

This has to be the easiest thing in the world, to build something that everyone wants. No one wants coal-burning generators and yet they continue to be built. What am I missing?