Sunday, February 2, 2014

The Polar Vortex bankrupts renewable energy company


Another victim of the Mann-made Polar Vortex:

Renewable energy provider Clean Currents discontinues service

Silver Spring company hurt by rising electricity prices in cold snap



Gary Skulknik was the co-founder and president of Clean Currents.

By Lorraine Mirabella, The Baltimore Sun  January 31, 2014

Clean Currents, a Silver Spring-based provider of renewable energy for residents and businesses, said Friday it has stopped serving customers after rising wholesale electricity prices in the recent cold snap caused the company to default on payments to its supplier, electricity grid operator PJM Interconnection.

Customers, including 6,000 residential and 2,000 commercial, will not see interruptions in service, said Gary Skulnik, co-founder and president. Customers will be returned to their [fossil fueled] utility service effective immediately and will see the change reflected on one of the next two bills.

"This all happened very rapidly," Skulnik said. "Obviously this is not the way we would have hoped things would have happened, but this polar vortex and extended cold weather sent the electricity market into an extreme situation. Prices were through the roof and beyond anything we could afford to cover."

Skulnik started the company, which sold wind generated power, in the summer of 2006. It had 19 employees and will be winding down over the next few weeks, he said. Skulnik said he still believes the future is bright for companies that buy renewable energy.

"We showed there was a demand for clean energy," he said. "People want a solution for climate change."

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-clean-currents-closing-20140131,0,5256782.story#ixzz2sBgkqApc

7 comments:

  1. "People want a solution for climate change."
    Is that the climate that hasn't changed for 17 years? or the climate that is producing record Antarctic sea ice which, combined with growing Arctic sea ice is now above the average for the last 30 odd years.
    I guess if you're trying to make a living selling solutions to none problems you'd prefer it if your customers stay unaware that there is no problem.

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  2. I'm a little confused. How can a company that sells electricity generated through wind power have escalating wholesale prices?

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    Replies
    1. Wind power is intermittent and when the wind doesn't blow, such as when it's needed most, the green energy company has to buy fossil fuel power to make up the difference.

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    2. Wind turbines can't operate below certain cold temperatures plus when it gets really cold it usually isn't very windy.

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    3. They also bought power on the open market. It was all paper energy.

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  3. It’s very easy to get Obama bucks
    1. Register as a Democrat
    2. Open a "Green" company on paper only, no business plan, building, work force or product necessary, just a post office box and a bank account.
    3. Make it known that you with make a really big campaign contribution to Obama, or any other democrat in the leadership.
    4. Apply for a 100 Million grant/loan
    5. After you get the money pay yourself, your wife kids and friends >1 Million/year plus even bigger bonus, pay your taxes
    6. Make the contribution.
    7. Declare the company bankrupt when all the money is gone and retire on the money you have saved up.

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  4. I had neighbors deep into this since day one. Tried to get me in. Sorry, I did many things to lower my electric use that cost little and saved much.

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