Spain Kills Renewable Energy Subsidies

samhill wrote:Most of the coal plants that will go off line have been marginal plants for a long time & in reality are probably getting past their expected lifespan from when they were built. If there was money being put into newer developments all along then we might not be where we are today. To keep the investors happy they just took everything that they could out & only repaired when they had too, the steel mills worked much the same way except that they used to develop & sell new processes but now they buy them from foreign companies, we got lazy & greedy.

The last part of what you said contains some truth, the first is mostly incorrect. The ONLY reason some of these plants were marginal is because of environmental regs, and the owners making decisions as to whether they would pay for credits or invest in control tech. Many of the plants were very profitable aside from these things although some companies had failed to do proper maintenance for years - cutting out boiler tubes and capping them instead of replaicing them is one of the most common things. Design life means nothing when necessary maintenance and repair is done on a regular basis. NSR becomes a problem for those companies who wish to bring a plant back to initial efficiency and productivity. The deck is stacked against older plants but not because of potential or real profitablity when environmental nonsense is removed. Many older plants that have been well maintained still generate power at a profit for around $.02/KWH. Very few entities other than electrical consumers have any real interest in keeping older plants in good shape and running. The increased costs of stupidity will just be passed on to you and I.

wsherrick wrote:Yes, Investors want,"huge," profits. If I put my hard earned money into something, I would want a nice rate of return also. Anybody who puts their money into an enterprise NOT to make money is an idiot. No, but to invest in something for a profit is evil according to the fools who believe that my or anybody else's life force, effort and brains belong to everyone else who has their hand out.

You are glossing over Sam's point that "they get bought up until the big ones are in control & set price & policy".
There are profits earned by investments in businesses that are legally and morally clean. Then there are profits, or we might call them extortions, taken illegally and immorally simply because one has seized the power to take them. It's not always clear which type you are investing in, but sometimes it becomes apparent. Witness Enron and the western states energy crisis of 2000-2001. Witness all Russian big-business since the fall of the USSR.