Given the amount of information available from around the world proving how economically destructive wind/solar/BESS energy is – it seems a bit self-defeating that New York State still pushes it. State politicians and citizens are either ignorant of the economics, or they don’t care because they have other personal interests in mind.

Wind and Solar are absolutely unreliable power sources, so BESS (Battery Energy Storage Systems) must be added to the grid – at great expense – as backup for all-to-common periods of low wind and solar generation. BESS just adds to the already extreme cost of wind and solar based power.

Contrary to the Green narrative, wind/solar/BESS are NOT sustainable. The infrastructure has a lifetime of only 10-20 years, at which time it must be completely removed and replaced at very high cost. There will be nowhere to dispose of the massive quantities of unrecyclable and often toxic materials found in wind/solar/BESS.

Wind/solar/BESS infrastructure cannot be produced without massive use of fossil fuels for mining, processing, manufacturing, and installation, making it even less sustainable. This is proven by Dems in the State Senate who refuse to pass the bill put forth by Sen. George Borrello that would require wind/solar/BESS infrastructure to be produced using only wind/solar/BESS energy.

Wind/solar/BESS is so inefficient that even after billions in subsidies, New York only gets 8% of its total electrical energy from it. To meet future demand using wind/solar/BESS under Net Zero mandates of Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act will require at least 30 times more wind/solar generating capacity than we now have (extra generation is needed to recharge BESS between periods of low generation). In addition we would need at least 200 times the current BESS capacity.

Wind/Solar/BESS requires 600-1000 times more land per megawatt production than any other form of generation we have today. Where will we find all the land area? Imagine the environmental and financial costs to add 30 times more wind/solar, and 200 times more BESS to meet Net Zero requirements of CLCPA.

The Payment In Lieu Of Taxes they promise is just your money being recycled. They take $100 from you in higher electricity costs, and give your town $1 in return. PILOT is a sucker’s bet – a guaranteed loser for taxpayers.

The cost of wind/solar/bess is guaranteed to accelerate the rate of job losses in New York State. By way of a recent example, a major mill in Michigan just announced closure because it cannot afford the $14 million per month increase in electricity costs for mandated wind/solar/BESS power.

To keep industrial jobs here, New York State will need to tax us even more to provide additional subsidies for industry, and import carbon-based power from outside the state. Again, it is a sucker’s bet.

– For the above reasons, wind/solar/BESS is the most expensive and risky electricity option we have. If the “Green Economy” really worked, then Germany and England would lead the world in economic growth. Instead they are economic basket cases, killed by their Green New Deals, while doing absolutely nothing to affect so-called climate change. Meanwhile the rest of the world is abandoning Net-Zero madness.

If the companies who own BESS have an accident and go bankrupt, their “letters of credit” will not be worth the paper they are written on. There will be no money for remediation. Letters of credit are not escrow accounts. They are just another sucker’s bet. Don’t be the sucker.

Say NO to BESS. Saying yes is insanity. After all, if the (former) farmers who lease their land were serious about the need for wind/solar/BESS, then they would also be using EV tractors and trucks to demonstrate their belief in climate catastrophism.

Do they?

Michael Dee is a Silver Creek resident and Scott Axelson resides in Jamestown.