Mega Nitwits

You know, this whole “renewable energy” thingy is getting real complicated. Oh, not the complicated you are thinking, but the complicated that is making sense of something you cannot make sense of. Let me explain.

I wrote, some months ago, that when the windmills on Hatchet Mountain are running, the Pit One Powerhouse near Fall River Mills is shut down or cut back to accommodate the extra power generation. It is still unclear whether it is because the infrastructure cannot accommodate both power sources at the same time or whether PG&E is stifling the Pit One power to adhere to a mandate that 40% of our power must be from “renewable” sources, which is the bone I’m chewing on.

You see, somewhere in the bowels of a building in Sacramento or in a courtroom in San Francisco, forces we may never understand, are writing rules that are ambiguous at best and indefensible to anyone with an IQ above their shoe size. It has been determined by these individuals that only hydro generation, 10 megawatts or less, is considered “renewable”. Thus any power plants over that are NOT renewable. This is where the rubber leaves the road.

For instance, our Pit One power house is about 25 megawatts and other than short shutdowns for maintenance or retooling, this power plant has run continuously since the early 30’s. It is fed by a diversion dam on the Fall River, then runs through a tunnel dug through a lava rock mountain, then down penstocks to the power house. Now except for considerable water loss through the tunnel, this system has provided a clean, continuous source of energy for 70 years. Now I don’t want to go out on a limb here, but if this isn’t renewable, somebody needs a new tinfoil hat.

No, what this IS is an attempt to rewrite the definitions of ‘common sense‘, ‘reason’ and ‘logic’ in the name of conservation and the Green Agenda.

And if you believe this garbage, you’re just as dumb as the doofus writing the rules.