ECO Mafia

BB.
BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,613 admin
in Solar Skeptics, Hype, & Scams Corner #1
Oh oh...
Mafia cash in on lucrative EU wind farm handouts - especially in Sicily
They rise up high above the sun-scorched countryside, looking out over hilltop villages, palm trees, neatly-tended vineyards and olive groves.

But for all their promises of a clean, green future, Italy's windfarms have now acquired a somewhat dirtier whiff - as the latest industry to be infiltrated by the country's mobsters.
...
"Nothing earns more than a wind farm," said Edoardo Zanchini, an environmental campaigner who has investigated Mafia infiltration of the industry. "Anything that creates wealth interests the Mafia."

It is not just Italian criminals, however, who have spotted the potential for corruption. Recent research by Kroll, the international corporate security firm, has discovered examples all over Europe of so-called "clean energy" schemes being used to to line criminals' pockets rather than save the planet. Some involve windmills that stand derelict or are simply never built, while others are used to launder profits from other crime enterprises.
...
In Italy, for example, power from wind farms is sold at a guaranteed rate of €180 per kwh – the highest rate in the world. In a country where the Mafia has years of expertise at buying corrupt politicians and intimidating rivals, the result is perhaps inevitable, creating a new breed of entrepreneur known as the "lords of the wind".
...
One case in Spain, meanwhile, involved a solar energy plant which claimed, miraculously, to be generating electricity at night. Investigators found that that the power was in fact being produced by diesel generators - the "green" subsidies paid for the plant were so generous that the owners still made a handsome profit.
...a guaranteed rate of €180 per kwh... That can't be correct. $230 USD per kWH???

-Bill:grr:cry:
Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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Comments

  • stephendv
    stephendv Solar Expert Posts: 1,571 ✭✭
    #2
    Re: ECO Mafia

    Think they mixed up their kilo's and Mega's ;)
    Seems closer to 300 Euro/MWh

    http://www.renewable-energy-sources.com/2009/10/22/prices-for-electricity-from-renewable-energy-sources-in-italy/
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  • russ
    russ Solar Expert Posts: 593 ✭✭
    #3
    Re: ECO Mafia

    The 230 Euros per mWh is the correct number.

    Pure foolishness!
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,613 admin
    #4
    Re: ECO Mafia

    10 years ago, thanks to "deregulation" in California, the wholesale rate for peak power as high as:
    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]During June 2000, El Paso Electric sold 527 megawatts of power into California markets at $750 per MWh for power that it bought at an average cost of $52.50 per MWh.[/FONT]

    I thought I remembered that it even went as high at $999 per MWH... It was nuts at the time... Yep--here is one reference (PDF):
    DOER estimates that absent the demand savingsfrom the energy efficiency programs, the average market clearing price over the 13 hour period could have been $554 per MW (the highest hourly price being $999 per MW), or 40% higher than the average market clearing price absent the impact of the 115 MW demand savings.” (MA DOER, 2000)

    Now it is all in the name of green energy.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • Roderick
    Roderick Solar Expert Posts: 253 ✭✭
    #5
    Re: ECO Mafia
    BB. wrote: »
    10 years ago, thanks to "deregulation" in California, the wholesale rate for peak power as high as:

    ...
    [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]During June 2000, El Paso Electric sold 527 megawatts of power into California markets at $750 per MWh for power that it bought at an average cost of $52.50 per MWh.[/FONT] ...
    -Bill

    That was due to Enron and the like gaming the system. Hopefully the regulations have been updated to avoid a repeat of that situation.
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  • Lefty Wright
    Lefty Wright Solar Expert Posts: 111 ✭✭
    #6
    Re: ECO Mafia

    California's problems were caused by an energy deregulation bill that was written by Pacific Gas & Electric and passed in the state legislature without a single no vote.

    The Republican governor, Pete Wilson, signed it into law.

    Soon after that, Democrat gray Davis was elected and the rolling blackouts and high energy prices were blamed on him to the point he was recalled and we were given Arnold Schwarzeneger.

    The bill also allowed Pacific Gas & Electric to form itself into two companies. One to absorb all liabilities and the other to protect profits.

    California is often the nation's innovator. Even in bad government.
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