Saturday 23 November 2019

Greencoat Wind Farms Part 2 - Lisdowney

Lisdowney Wind Farm in Co.Kilkenny was purchased by Greencoat Renewables in 2017. At that time, it was making losses. The latest accounts filed are showing profits of € 345,000 for 10 months or about € 400,000 for the year 2018. Whilst this looks more promising, the wind farm's debts still stands at € 13 million which means it will take another 32 years to pay off. Since the wind farm has been operating for about four years, the likelihood is that it will continue to operate for another 10-15 years, when at that stage it will need further capital investment to extend it's useful life.
 

6 comments:

  1. I know of no wind farm that actually owns the land which it is on.It is invariably rented through a lease agreement. The planning permission usually lasts 25 years. After that it must be decommissioned or a new application made for a further 25 years. It will be harder to get planning permission then because residents will have evidence that there is noise and shadow flicker. The turbines will need full replacing and the concrete base will not serve again as the metal fatigue strain on the bolts will render them inadequate for 25 more years. The condition attached to planning permission usually demands all the infrastructure be removed and the site returned to pre-development condition. The duty falls to the bankrupt developer who often has a clause in the lease absolving their company of responsibility for all except a commitment to remove all vehicles from, the site. The cost of removal can then fall to on the landowner. This could mean that a farm that is normally worth 300,000 euros will be worth minus 4 million Euros. (4m) or - 4,000,000.

    Once the planning permission for a wind farm expires, its residual value is negative to several million Euros. The capital investment to extend its useful life will mean capital for everything except the roads and cabling. Around 2.3 million Euros at today's prices. Then planning permission will be required, (not certain) the landowners may not want it but will probably be tied in with a contract. A limited company can walk away, John Laing Plc already is.

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  2. Could it be possible that the European Central Bank is printing money and directing it into Greencoat Renewables? There is obviously a hidden agenda in their operations. Greencoat has only 400,000 Euros in loans, but is relies on equity to finance itself. Where is that equity coming from. Could the printed money be channeled to fund managers who then invest it into Greencoat equity?

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  3. 1.
    Decommissioning Wind Turbines

    “7.19 Decommissioning and Reinstatement
    Conditions requiring the lodgement of financial bonds have been used in the past to try to ensure that decommissioning will take place in a responsible manner. However, the use of long-term bonds to secure satisfactory reinstatement of the site upon cessation of the project puts an unreasonable burden on developers given the long time span involved in wind energy developments and is difficult to enforce. The recycling value of the turbine components, particularly copper and steel, should more than adequately cover the financial costs of the decommissioning. Accordingly, the use of a long-term bond is not recommended.”

    https://www.opr.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/2006-Wind-Energy-Development-1.pdf

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  4. 2.
    'There’s some public-record material about decommissioning US wind farms, and it’s not re-assuring. In Minnesota, the 10-year-old Nobles Wind farm has 134 turbines of about 1.5MW and is operated by Xcel Energy. Xcel estimates a cost for scrapping each turbine at up to $US530,000 ($A770,000) or $US71 million total ($A103m). Each turbine has a tip height of 120 metres. Just to scrap one 40m blade involves crunching composite material weighing more than 6 tonnes. The turbines themselves contain a smorgasbord of toxic plastics, oils, lubricants, metals and fibreglass.

    As American Experiment points out, even $US71 million doesn’t finance a thorough clean-up. The contracts oblige Xcel to restore the land to a depth of only 4 feet, i.e. about one metre, whereas the foundations go down 5 metres. Moreover, underneath the 56 square miles (14,500ha) of this Minnesota wind farm is 140km of cabling and pipes. The documents don’t say if the cables would stay or go. But Palmer’s Creek, another wind farm in Minnesota with 18 turbines, will be allowed to leave cables in situ below four feet.'........

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  5. 3.
    'So what do farmers get per turbine to offset their risks? The Clean Energy Council itself has spilled a few beans,

    Hosting five wind turbines for the Capital Wind Farm near Lake George in New South Wales has made it possible for Peter and Bev Keatley to stay on their property and make it viable to one day pass on to their son. Peter is proud of his role in providing clean energy, and calls the wind farm income – $10,000 per turbine a year – ‘my super’.” (Note: This wind farm, operating since 2010, has 67 turbines of 2.1MW each).

    In mid-2015, graziers Clive and Tina Gare at Hallett, SA, told Senate Estimates that they’d been getting $200,000 a year since 2010 for hosting 19 turbines of 2.1MW for AGL, i.e. $10,500 per turbine. Their literal windfall totalled $1m at the time and presumably nearly $2m by now. But the ‘unbearable’ turbine noise destroyed their health and lifestyle, they testified,even after massive extra insulation of their farmhouse. “I will probably just go slowly deaf,” Mrs Gare said.

    Senator LEYONHJELM: If you had your time over again, would you host a wind farm?

    Mr Gare: No, absolutely not. If I were a rich man, I would not have a wind farm on my property… but unfortunately I am a farmer and there are not many rich farmers around.

    The decommissioning issue will generate a new set of horror stories in the decade to come. Count on it.'

    https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/doomed-planet/2019/11/inherit-the-wind/
    (7th November 2019)

    Note: US$530,000 = €475,270

    This article seems to confirm a figure of about €500,000 per 1-2MW wind turbine published by the Fédération Environnement Durable (Federation for a Sustainable Environment, France)
    https://www.lefigaro.fr/economie/le-scan-eco/decryptage/2019/01/29/29002-20190129ARTFIG00141-le-polluant-recyclage-des-vieilles-eoliennes-allemandes.php
    https://environnementdurable.net/

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  6. 4.
    There are currently about 3700MW of wind turbines installed in Ireland so the current cost at let's say €500,000 to decommission every 2MW of wind turbine(s) would amount to €925M.
    There are currently 5000MW of wind turbines on the island of Ireland with a current decommissioning cost of €1.25Bn.
    Who is going to be landed with that bill?

    'MidAmerican's retired blades, destined for a Nebraska landfill about 130 miles away, are among hundreds that will land in dumps across Iowa and the nation. Critics of wind energy say the blades' march to a landfill weakens the industry's claim it's an environmentally friendly source of energy.'

    'So far, only one facility in north Iowa is taking the blades, while other landfills are assessing whether they will.'
    'The Waste Management facility near Lake Mills in north Iowa is accepting the blades, but its workers are "shearing" them — or cutting them into smaller pieces, said Julie Ketchum, a Waste Management spokeswoman.
    The facility takes in about six blades a day, or the equivalent of two wind turbines, she said.
    DNR's Davidson said other landfills are discussing whether they can accept the blades. One of the issues that has emerged is who should be responsible for cutting the turbines into smaller pieces, she said.'
    'Frank Peters, an Iowa State University associate professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, said graduate students looked at whether chopped-up blades could replace gravel in making concrete. But it wasn't financially viable, given how much energy was needed to process the blades.
    "Unless there's a better solution, they are going to get landfilled," Peters said. "But if you look at the total economic and environmental costs of reprocessing that blade, landfilling may be the best solution."...'
    https://eu.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2019/11/06/few-recycling-options-wind-turbine-blades-head-iowa-landfills/3942480002/

    Could the very near future disposal of wind turbine junk containing toxic elements quickly exhaust the capacity of Ireland's landfill requiring the development of more landfill sites? How sustainable is that?

    And what about the cost of the 'safe' disposal of and landfill capacity for 'unstable' toxic Lithium Ion batteries from plug in hybrids and electric vehicles and battery energy storage systems?

    Then there may in addition be the legal compensation and clean up and restoration of land costs for up to at least 4000MW of proposed Lithium Ion batteries in Ireland most of which has received full planning permission.

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