• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
  • Podcast
  • Archives

Atomic Insights

Atomic energy technology, politics, and perceptions from a nuclear energy insider who served as a US nuclear submarine engineer officer

Wal-Mart Publicly Opposes Cape Wind Contract Costs

June 21, 2010 By Rod Adams

Now I know that the Cape Wind off-shore project is going to have a very tough time getting completed. Wl-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, and a company that has been paying for a major advertising campaign touting its efforts to to “green” its operations has filed a motion to intervene in the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities review of the contract negotiated between Cape Wind and National Grid. According to the filed documents, the company will be substantially affected by the agreement since it is a large commercial rate payer that buys services from National Grid.

Wal-Mart is not the only commercial customer complaining; it was joined in its effort by 19 other groups who are not terribly interested in helping National Grid pay 20.7 cents per kilowatt hour in 2012 for electricity generated from large off-shore wind turbines – with an automatic inflation escalation of 3.5% per year for the next fifteen years.

You can find more details in the following June 19, 2010 article published by Cape Cod Times.

Wal-Mart takes on Cape Wind

Related Posts

  • Cape Wind scrambling to meet deadline to qualify for $780 million taxpayer gift

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About Rod Adams

Rod Adams is Managing Partner of Nucleation Capital, a venture fund that invests in advanced nuclear, which provides affordable access to this clean energy sector to pronuclear and impact investors. Rod, a former submarine Engineer Officer and founder of Adams Atomic Engines, Inc., which was one of the earliest advanced nuclear ventures, is an atomic energy expert with small nuclear plant operating and design experience. He has engaged in technical, strategic, political, historic and financial analysis of the nuclear industry, its technology, regulation, and policies for several decades through Atomic Insights, both as its primary blogger and as host of The Atomic Show Podcast. Please click here to subscribe to the Atomic Show RSS feed. To join Rod's pronuclear network and receive his occasional newsletter, click here.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jerry says

    June 21, 2010 at 6:36 AM

    The article states Wal-Mart wants to be totally powered by renewables. What is so amazing is the constant suggestion that renewables can already today provide reliable electricity, and backup generation is never mentioned! Scores of articles tell of how many “homes” (seems to be the new unit for electricity) this solar or that wind turbine project can power, with NO mention of backup generation.
    And they keep on comparing apples to oranges, always mentioning how the price of x MW from wind power is competitive to x MW from conventional power plants. Where are the giant batteries that store wind or solar generated energy? Where are the success stories of how wind power has replaced coal or gas fired plants?

    • JD says

      June 21, 2010 at 7:08 AM

      The success stories of replacing coal or gas-fired plants are implied by these stories, and the supporters never bother to correct the record. Take a look at the first sentence of this wikipedia page if you don’t believe me:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_effects_of_wind_power
      Your first point is made worse by all of this nonsense about buying “only renewable energy” from your electric company as if 1) they can direct the flow of specific electrons and 2) guarantee output from renewable sources when you need it.

      • Jerry says

        June 21, 2010 at 8:13 AM

        Some utilities offer 100% wind power plans – to be honest, they would have to ensure that every wind-power kWh that a customer “thinks” he is buying is either immediately or later supplied by a wind turbine and is actually consumed by the customers. I doubt that they can ensure that. How would consumers like their 100% wind power plan if it meant *intermittent* power supply depending on the weather?
        What we would need is a wide range of choices for our personal electricity supply. They offer us only green power, but no other choices. If they would offer a pure nuclear option and a coal option, etc. then consumers could be voting with their wallets.

  2. katana0182 (Dave) says

    June 21, 2010 at 9:15 AM

    It’ll raise my company’s electric costs by quite a bit (and for what?) I mean, it’s a great thing that Cape Wind was approved to be built – just to prove a point about NIMBYism – progress needs to continue – but now, let Cape Wind find its own customers instead of foisting expensive, unreliable power on National Grid’s general mass of ratepayers.
    I can imagine there are a lot of environmental NGOs who’ll be lining up to buy their power from Cape Wind. Perhaps Congressman Markey can lead by example, too.

    • katana0182 (Dave) says

      June 24, 2010 at 2:42 PM

      Clarification: the use of the term “my company” means the company that I work for (that shall remain nameless); not a company that I own…I don’t own any companies…at the present… 🙂

  3. Meredith Angwin says

    June 21, 2010 at 3:29 PM

    Big companies opt out of expensive power. In Vermont, Efficiency Vermont was started with an efficiency charge on all electric bills, sometime around 2000.
    The biggest employer in Vermont, the IBM wafer fab plant, objected. “We will do our own electric efficiency, thank you very much. We do not need Efficiency Vermont services and we aren’t paying for those services.” And so they don’t pay the surcharge. They are enrolled in the SMEEP program for companies (big companies) with their own in-house efficiency programs.
    http://psb.vermont.gov/projects/eeu/smeep
    If Cape Wind happens, you can expect the same sort of thing. Any extra costs will be passed on to the Little People, not businesses.

  4. russ says

    June 26, 2010 at 5:05 AM

    It’s a great thing to have an unreliable, high priced ‘eye candy’ power source added to the grid? Baseline power? No way!
    If congressman Malarkey wishes to pay extra for green points it is fine with me but I have no intention of doing so!
    WalMart is into ‘green’ to pacify a part of their customer base plus some parts are good business and common sense. That does not mean they have to buy into every fruitcake scheme that comes along.

Primary Sidebar

Categories

Join Rod’s pronuclear network

Join Rod's pronuclear network by completing this form. Let us know what your specific interests are.

Recent Comments

  • Jon Grams on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked
  • Eino on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked
  • James R. Baerg on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked
  • David on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked
  • Rod Adams on Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked

Follow Atomic Insights

The Atomic Show

Atomic Insights

Recent Posts

Atomic Show #297 – Krusty – The Kilopower reactor that worked

Nuclear energy growth prospects and secure uranium supplies

Nucleation Capital’s Earth Day in Atherton

Atomic Show #296 – Julia Pyke, Director of Finance Sizewell C

Solar’s dirty secrets: How solar power hurts people and the planet

  • Home
  • About Atomic Insights
  • Atomic Show
  • Contact
  • Links

Search Atomic Insights

Archives

Copyright © 2022 · Atomic Insights

Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy