And With This I'm Heading To Bed For The Evening -- February 24, 2016

See also: http://themilliondollarway.blogspot.com/2016/02/williston-high-school-coyotes-to-play.html.

The Humor Page: Three Inches Over 400 Years -- I Can't Make This Stuff Up -- February 23, 2016

... and I thought I was the only that made these kind of typos:

I suppose it's possible some day we will read about a bird found dead at some turkey chute. LOL.

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Manchurian Candidate

I don't have the energy to draw/drag out this post.

Does anyone ever wonder how a junior senator from Illinois becomes president of the United States literally overnight?

Does anyone wonder why the Jeb Bush supporters are moving their millions of dollars of support to Rubio?

Does anyone wonder why the Democratic establishment loves a felon like Hillary? 

Does anyone wonder why the Republican and Democratic establishment is so anti-Trump?

Does anyone doubt that if it comes down to Trump vs Hillary, even establishment GOP will go for Hillary, or if they can't stomach the thought, simply not vote so that Hillary wins because of poor GOP turnout?

Say what you want, humans are pretty much binary in their thinking. Fight or flee. Black or white. Good or bad. Bottom line, profit or loss.

At the end of the day, the establishment only wants the nominee who can be bought.

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From The New York Times On Global Warming

I can't make this stuff up. From The New York Times:

The paper shows the ocean to be extremely sensitive to small fluctuations in the Earth’s temperature. The researchers found that when the average global temperature fell by a third of a degree Fahrenheit in the Middle Ages, for instance, the surface of the ocean dropped by about three inches in 400 years. When the climate warmed slightly, that trend reversed.

Three inches over 400 years. Fortunately the Arabs were out there measuring sea levels when the western world, as we know it, collapsed.

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Lucky

Sometimes one just gets lucky. This may turn out to be my favorite video of all time.

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Real Lucky

I Learned Something New Today

It's Just a Matter of Time, Randy Travis

Daily Activity Report Was Not Posted Wednesday But It Appears There Were Ten (10) New Permits -- February 24, 2016

Active rigs:

	2/24/2016	02/24/2015	02/24/2014	02/24/2013	02/24/2012
Active Rigs	39	124	189	181	204

Ten (10) new permits:

• Operators: Whiting (6), QEP (4)
• Fields: Poe (McKenzie), Grail (McKenzie), Camp (McKenzie)
• Comments:

Wells coming off confidential list Thursday:

• 29681, SI/NC, Statoil, Richard 8-5 8TFH, Banks, no production data,
• 30760, SI/NC, XTO, Big Gulch Federal 41X-16EXH, Haystack Butte, no production data,
• 31652, SI/NC, SM Energy, Sandra 14B-10HS, West Ambrose, no production data,
• 31720, 274, Petro Harvester, Busch Trust 31-30 164-92 B, Portal, a Madison well, t12/15; cum 7K 12/15;

New Solar Energy Project Slated For Northern Minnestoa -- February 24, 2016

From an August 25, 2014, post, this is 30-second sound bite for "cost of renewable megawatt":

• Solar: $3 million / MW
• Wind: $2.5 million / MW
• Natural gas: $865,000 / MW

indiacountrytodaymedianetwork is reporting:

The Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians has signed a formal agreement with the Winkelman Building Corp. and Innovative Power Systems Inc. to design, engineer, procure, construct and manage solar energy projects for the three Red Lake casinos and various other tribal government buildings.

Red Lake will install 15 megawatts—equal to 15 million watts—worth of solar panels across the rooftops of the band’s largest buildings. When they’re done, the panels will generate enough power to light every bulb in the tribe’s three casinos, the tribal college and all government buildings. The ultimate goal is to generate enough solar power on tribal land to supply every home on Red Lake within five years. 

The Red Lake solar power plan is divided into three phases. Phase I will cover three casinos, the Red Lake Government Center, Red Lake Nation College, the Justice Center Complex, the Humanities Facility and other large buildings. It involves installing $20 million to $30 million in solar energy equipment and providing solar energy training for the Red Lake workforce.

But there's more:

Phase II will be the development of solar energy farms on ceded lands up north and will consist of 40 to 100 acres of solar panels that will provide 10 to 20 megawatts of electricity to be sold to the grid, thus producing a steady revenue stream for years to come for the tribe.

The solar array will help Minnesota Power comply with the state’s new solar mandate. It represents a part of the solar power that Minnesota Power needs to add by 2020 under a new law requiring investor-owned electric utilities to get 1.5 percent of their energy from the sun. Coops like Beltrami Electric are not subject to the same mandate. 

Phase III will be the development of a solar energy plant that will produce solar equipment for the industry, while providing jobs assembling solar panels for the members of Red Lake Nation. 

Eighty percent of phase one will be completed by the end of 2016.

Funding:

Winkelman estimates the cost at upwards of $20 million. 

The band itself will only pay only $100,000 for the project, with the vast majority of costs shouldered by the Olson Energy Corporation, which specializes in shuttling solar developers through the government incentive system. 

Olson Energy has developed a financial plan to assist in addressing the financial needs for solar energy development. U.S. tax law provides a variety of benefits to developers and owners of renewable energy projects, since non-taxed entities such as units of government cannot benefit directly from these incentives.

It Looks Like The NDIC Site Is Back Up -- February 24, 2016

Updates

August 18, 2016: update on Vestas. Thriving. 

A project to install hundreds of wind turbines in the Fosen peninsula area of Norway at one point was shelved as unfeasible. The strong breezes that whip off the sea can shift and swing unpredictably, while the soaring cliffs and steep drop-offs create turbulence that wears out expensive equipment.

The venture was rescued with a lot of help from the mathematical calculations of Vestas Wind Systems, a Danish wind power company.

Vestas used data to figure out how to use more powerful turbines for the project, and precisely where to place them. That meant the utility developing the facility could buy fewer turbines, helping cut costs and balancing the economics of the $1.2 billion project.

The company is at the forefront of efforts to make wind a competitive source of energy, rather than just a subsidized experiment. In doing so, it has become a model for the renewables industry, which has struggled at times to remain viable while facing cuts to government subsidies and volatile oil and gas prices. 

Original Post

 

It looks like the NDIC site came back up about 7:30 p.m. tonight.

John Kemp's weekly energy tweets suggest that oil and gasoline stocks are still "off the chart"; setting new records

• US refineries are running at a seasonal record 15.7 million bopd; to met strong gasoline demand(up from 15.2 million which also at record highs)
• US distillate consumption continues to weaken and now running 660,000 below 2015; setting new "low" records
• US distillate stock fell 1.7 million bbls last week; still exceeds ten-year high (slightly) and exceeds last year's number by a huge margin
• US gasoline consumption is recovering after weather-related disruptions; average 9.1 million bopd over last four weeks; not at record highs, but approaching 10-year record; much higher than last year at this time
• US gasoline stocks adjusted for consumption are still above the 10-year range but heading down and approaching the 10-year high which was set last year
• US gasoline stocks fell 2.2 million bbls last week; still "off the chart"; 16.4 million bbls more than 2015 and it was at a 10-year record last year; the graph has turned down down for the first time in a long time
• US total products stocks still "off the chart": 83. million bbls (11%) mor ethan 2015 and it was a 10-year record last year; it did fall a bit last week
• US commercial crude oil stocks are still "off the chart": 74 million bbbls (17%) more than last year and 2015 set a 10-year record
• US total crude and product stocks are "still off the chart": stocks fell slightly (5 million bbls last week) but stil 157 million (13%) higher than 2015 whch set a record

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Wind Turbine Manufacturing: US Cedes Bragging Rights To China 

EnergyWire is reporting:

General Electric Co. has ceded its position as the world's No. 1 wind turbine manufacturer to a Chinese competitor, according to 2015 market data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co. Ltd. received orders for 7.8 gigawatts of new wind turbines in 2015, exceeding GE, which dropped to No. 3 globally with 5.9 GW of new commissioned capacity, according to BNEF. Vestas Wind Systems A/S of Denmark attracted 7.3 GW of new orders in 2015, solidifying its No. 2 ranking in the global supply chain.

While Goldwind maintains a North American headquarters in Chicago and has provided turbines to several U.S. wind farms, BNEF said that almost all of the company's recent growth was in the Chinese market, where wind power developers are riding an unprecedented boom. About 29 GW of new capacity came online in China last year alone.

David Halligan, CEO of Goldwind Americas, said Goldwind is pleased to be at the forefront of a global wind market that "is growing at an exponential rate."