It is difficult to describe the socio-economic devastation sweeping across Europe over the course of the past couple of weeks.I’m speaking of the “Dunkleflaute”. Wind drought.Ironically, this catastrophic regional weather pattern was preceded by an unusual “too much wind” overvoltage event on October 18 in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. There is an overabundance of wind farms in the area, with reportedly a lack of sufficient transmission lines. A conductor connection failed, which led to a short circuit and then a sudden surge of power to thousands of households, and as if struck by lightning, power outlets and appliances melted, the electronics “fried”, or just burst into flames. House fires large and small were lit everywhere, all at the same time. Some say it may possibly have been a surge of up to 6,000 volts versus normal low-voltage grid of 230 to 240 V. The blackout affected 40,000 households.Since then, an energy crisis has spread across Europe due to a lack of power generation. No wind. “Dunkleflaute” — wind drought, with often overcast conditions, meaning no solar. For countries like Germany and Denmark which have enormous installed capacity of wind and solar, and which often have substantial generation from these renewables, the sudden lack of wind and solar means economic devastation for every country in Europe that is connected to the grid. Why? Because everyone’s power prices go through the roof.Bjørn Lomborg tweeted it succinctly. “No wind. Pricey Gas.” Power was averaging €320 to €410 per MWh. People were paying for two power systems — the unreliable renewables, which delivered almost nothing, with the grid supported by the limited back-up natural gas generation. Natural gas in Europe is now 11 times the price of the Henry Hub in the US.Remember, Powering Canada Strong national electricity strategy wants Canada to model Europe’s interconnected grid and to add huge quantities of renewables and transmission lines, not firm dispatchable generation. The current situation in Europe must wake us up!.The dream of a net zero grid and 100% renewables has long been known to be impossible. Engineer J.A. Halkema of the Netherlands wrote Wind Energy: Facts and Fiction - Half a Truth is a Whole Lie in the 2000s. Unfortunately, his sage advice was eclipsed by best-selling author Jeremy Rifkin. Rifkin is an economist and something of a futurist, but not an engineer. His best-selling books Zero Marginal Cost Society and The Hydrogen Economy influentially put much of the industrialized West on the road to this “decarbonized” energy disaster. Indeed, his Amazon bio says, “Rifkin has been an advisor to the leadership of the European Union since 2000. He also serves as an advisor to the People's Republic of China.”In a 2014 HuffPost interview, Rifkin claims, “Mr. Rifkin is the principal architect of the European Union's Third Industrial Revolution long-term economic sustainability plan to address the triple challenge of the global economic crisis, energy security, and climate change. The Third Industrial Revolution was formally endorsed by the European Parliament in 2007.”It is comically painful to read his gloating comments from 2014 in light of Germany’s decline today.So it seems that once the EU or a nation like Germany decides to go down one path, there cannot be a U-turn, even when impending doom slaps you hard in the face. Germany has a multi-billion-dollar obsession with expensive and dangerous hydrogen. Various hydrogen climate masterpieces like garbage trucks are being converted back to diesel.Prof. Samuel Furfari, a chemical engineer, advised the EU that a hydrogen-powered society is an illusion, years ago. Again, sage advice, eclipsed by a best-selling author pitching a utopian dream. Hydrogen requires more energy to produce, store, and use than it delivers.Due to the global energy crisis and shortage, energy prices have skyrocketed in Europe, which must import most of its fossil fuel energy. Industry is being crushed. In particular, German industry, once the pride of Europe, is being decimated. Dozens of major companies are moving offshore; thousands of people have been laid off; small and medium-sized industries are collapsing in the wake. Individuals and households are groaning under the burden of some of the highest electricity prices in the world (typically power prices are high wherever there is a large penetration of wind and solar, due to operating dual power systems — the unreliable one, and the dispatchable one). On top of that there are carbon taxes and now a new climate resilience tax. Plus, new natural gas plants to be built to stabilize the grid for Germany will be fully subsidized by taxpayers, too!.It seems there is no way to stop this runaway policy freight train.More absurdity. One tweet referenced a family in Germany that complied with the stateside order to install a heat pump and get an electric vehicle to save the planet. However, these two items pushed the family over the 20,000-kWh annual contract by about 3,000 kWh. Their electricity provider reportedly, with just six days’ notice, ended the contract, leaving them “in the dark.”Winter is coming. Normally European nations would have filled large natural gas storage facilities to about 90% to carry them through the winter. Only Italy has reached that goal. Germany is well below the mandated 80% at this time, and in October, has already drawn down existing natural gas supply at the fastest rate in history, due to having to provide dispatchable power to keep the lights on as the “Dunkleflaute” continues. Winter is not here yet. Death from heat-or-eat poverty, in winter, is a thing.This real-time catastrophe is a lesson for Canada. The wind is not always blowing somewhere. No matter how many transmission lines you build, they do not generate power. Likewise, we see how several interconnected suppliers of power in the EU, like Norway with its massive hydro reserves, France with its nuclear fleet, are all becoming reluctant to deliver the power to desperate places like Germany. They’d like to cut ties with their limping neighbours because a lack of power next door will drive up your own power prices at home — astronomically!Another German commentator denounces so-called “green steel” as having no added value compared to conventional, stating, “Our inflation is being fuelled by green idiots.”We can say the same thing about Canada.Though Canada has abundant natural gas, oil, and propane, we do not necessarily have sufficient delivery alternatives, such as pipelines, to our largest population and industrial centres. A key risk is Line 5 in the US, which carries petroleum products from Alberta, through Michigan, then back up to Sarnia, Ontario. Climate activists want to shut it down completely, which would cut off Ontario and Quebec from a vital supply of hydrocarbons.The need for energy security should bind Canada together and supersede regional differences. Instead, the decades-long Tar Sands Campaign’s vitriol is deeply embedded in the psyche of climate and indigenous activists across Canada. They may only learn the lessons we are watching play out in real time in Europe, when they, too, are freezing in the dark, poor, and jobless in deindustrialized Canada.Don’t let them take us all down with them. Winter is coming. Be prepared.
