Saturday, June 12, 2010

Headlines Saturday 12th June 2010

=== Todays Toon ===
Who has never told a lie in their life? I would say that the answer to that question is, undoubtably, NOBODY. Even if a man or a woman states truthfully that they have never exaggerated the details or distorted the facts or even told a white lie as an adult, it would be impossible to think that anyone could say that as a child there wasn't an innocent fib or two told by them to avoid a smack on the bottom or a dressing down by Dad or Mum. - cf Rudd who, in office, may never have told the truth - ed
=== Bible Quote ===
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”- Psalm 46:10
=== Headlines ===
Everybody Hates the U.N.'s New Climate Plan
BONN, Germany, June 11 -- Rich and poor nations alike criticized a new blueprint for a U.N. climate treaty on Friday as two weeks of talks among 185 countries ended with small steps towards an elusive deal. A streamlined climate draft, meant to help talks on a new pact, cut out some of the most draconian options for greenhouse gas and dropped all references to "Copenhagen" -- where a U.N. summit in December fell short of agreeing a treaty. "The group is dismayed that the ... text is unbalanced," developing nations in the Group of 77 and China said in a statement. Several of them said the 22-page text wrongly put emphasis on greenhouse gas curbs by the poor, not the rich.

Flash floods triggered by up to a half-foot of rain swamp campgrounds leaving 16 dead, dozens missing.

The 100M-Gallon Question
News that Gulf oil spill may be twice as big as previously thought could have major repercussions for both the environment and BP's financial health

S.C. Probes Dem Senate Primary Upset
Investigation launched into nominee Alvin Greene's candidacy, surprise primary win, state party official says

Family Pleads for Missing Boy's Return
A week after Oregon 7-year-old vanishes from a science fair, his family pleads for his safe return home

Afghan Taliban Hang 7-Year-Old Boy to Punish Family
A 7-year-old boy was murdered by the Taliban in an apparent act of retribution this week. Afghan officials said that the child was accused of spying for U.S. and NATO forces and hanged from a tree in southern Afghanistan. Daoud Ahmadi, the spokesman for the provincial governor of Helmand, said that the killing happened days after the boy's grandfather, Abdul Woodod Alokozai, spoke out against militants in their home village. Ahmadi said: "His grandfather is a tribal elder in the village and the village is under the control of the Taliban. His grandfather said some good things about the government and he formed a small group of people to stand against the Taliban. That's why the Taliban killed his grandson in revenge." Shamsuddin Khan Faryie, an elder in the boy's home village of Heratiyan, said that the victim was seized as he played in his garden. He was found hanged from a nearby tree.

South Africans kick off their World Cup soccer party, but pay respects to a mourning Nelson Mandela

High-seas dash to rescue Abby
AS BOATS race to save Abby, the Aussie who built her yacht says teen wasn't fit to sail.

Rudd told he has two weeks to fix tax
LABOR figures and the mining industry have given Kevin Rudd two weeks to settle the damaging dispute over the resource super-profits tax as the ALP faces a call to dump the Prime Minister before the election. Mr Rudd has rejected calls for an early settlement of the deep differences over the proposed $12 billion tax and warned that the fight could last for months, through to the election. Former Queensland Labor treasurer Keith De Lacy has urged federal MPs to replace Mr Rudd as leader or risk being swept from power for a generation. Mr De Lacy savaged the Prime Minister as "an item of ridicule", as former party powerbroker Graham Richardson warned that Labor was "bleeding votes" because of the Prime Minister's planned 40 per cent tax on "super profits".

Mum, kids freed after Yemen terror probe
A MUM and her young son and daughter are returning to Australia after a month-long investigation into al-Qaeda.

Pilot accused of texting during landing
AIR investigators examining Jetstar flight that abandoned landing after warning triggered

MasterChef goes live to stop web spoilers
AUSTRALIA'S most successful show taking no chances when it films its final next month.

Disgraced Olympian in steriods bust
KAYAKING medallist Nathan Baggaley already serving nine-year sentence for dealing ecstasy.

Call for federal inquiry into police chief Simon Overland
VICTORIA'S Opposition Leader has called for a federal inquiry into the state's police chief, Simon Overland. Ted Baillieu believes the commissioner should be investigated over allegations he broke the law when he passed on information from covert telephone taps. His call came the Office of Police Integrity, the body that claims to have already examined the matter, came under fire from a former member of the National Crime Authority over the affair. Mark Le Grand described as "patent nonsense" a statement made by the office's director, Michael Strong, backing Mr Overland's explanation for passing on the information. Mr Le Grand said that Mr Strong's statement "bears further testimony to the less than arm's length relationship which appears to exist between the OPI and the upper echelons of the Victoria Police".

Collectors host Andy Muirhead charged with a child pornography offence
ABC personality and comedian Andy Muirhead has taken unpaid leave from television and radio after being charged with a child pornography offence. Muirhead, who hosts the popular TV show Collectors and a breakfast radio program on ABC Hobart, informed the network he faced a child pornography charge and would take unpaid leave, the ABC confirmed today. "Mr Muirhead will not present Collectors on ABC TV nor the breakfast program on ABC local radio in Tasmania pending the outcome of the legal proceedings," an spokesman said. "The Collectors program will be off air until further notice." ABC staff were briefed about the charge this afternoon, ABC Hobart reported.

ALP's jobs for mates reviewed after Ian Macdonald's resignation
THE State Government has announced it will urgently review its overseas government postings in the wake of Ian Macdonald's resignation from Parliament. As minister for state and regional development, Mr Macdonald had made recent appointments to offices in Asia and the Middle East. It is understood the review, announced yesterday by Treasurer Eric Roozendaal, was prompted by concern over at least one appointment. Some of Australia's biggest sporting and celebrity names are among the state's overseas ambassadors and honorary trade and investment advisers, including golfer Greg Norman, actor Russell Crowe, surfer Layne Beachley and Peter Holmes a Court. While the program is being reviewed, none of the celebrities are suspected of doing anything wrong and the examination will focus on more recent appointments. Earlier this week it was revealed Mr Macdonald had appointed Karl Kazal, an accused former Labor branch stacker and Eddie Obeid associate, as "honorary Sydney Trade and Investment Adviser to the Middle East".

Ban on coal-fired power plants in NSW
BUILDING coal-fired power plants will be banned in NSW as part of a new climate change policy expected to go to Cabinet next week. With the Federal Government's abandonment of a national emissions trading scheme, the State Government will move to curb greenhouse gas emissions with a clean energy policy which bans dirty power plants. However, Treasury officials said a ban could push electricity prices even higher for consumers already hit with a 13 per cent price rise on July 1 as much-needed new energy would have to come from more costly sources. It is also likely to add fuel to the fire over the proposed federal super profits tax with the coal industry expected to claim it was being unfairly punished in NSW by such a policy. There are also fears that any restrictions on coal-fired plants could derail plans to privatise the retail sector of the NSW electricity industry.
=== Comments ===
Obama Fails Responsibility Test on Oil
By Bill O'Reilly
We have never been "drill, baby, drill" people here, understanding that the ocean is a complicated place where man has little influence. If America could possibly run on wind, solar and nukes, that would be ideal.

But we also understand that for more than 300 million Americans to live in comfort, oil is vital. So we are not oil business bashers, except when they engage in price fixing.

Like most sane people, "Talking Points" is furious about the BP oil spill and would like action against those responsible. So when we saw the TIME magazine cover story placing specific blame, we took notice. Unfortunately, TIME has diminished some good reporting with some lazy ideological nonsense, so let's run it down.

TIME lists 12 responsible agents. Three of them are BP pinheads, including the current CEO Tony Hayward. Fine so far, as historically BP has had all kinds of safety problems.

Americans Chris Oynes and Elizabeth Birnbaum are named. They were members of the Obama administration who managed the Minerals Management Service, the government agency that's supposed to oversee offshore oil drilling. Oynes has retired, Birnbaum was fired, and they are guilty.

Then ideology pops up, as Dick Cheney and President Bush are cited for blame. TIME says they were cozy with big oil, which is true. But while Cheney and Bush are ranked fifth and sixth most responsible, President Obama is ranked eighth.

The truth is that all three men are equally responsible because they did not make oil drilling safety a priority. If TIME wanted to be fair, the magazine would have lumped the three in together.

Finally, the magazine holds the American driver responsible for the oil spill because we continue to buy gas-guzzling cars and tool around all over the place.

I guess TIME believes that if all Americans drove Yugos, the accident would not have happened. That's fantasy, of course. Oil is needed in all parts of American industry. Yes, Americans want big vehicles and the freedom to drive them, and yes it would be better if we cut back, but drilling will not be affected by oil consumption in our lifetime.

What TIME ignores and what absolutely did contribute to the disaster is the intense environmental movement, which has prevented much shallow-water drilling and the ANWR Arctic exploration.

Now, I am a big environmental guy, but as I told President Obama man-to-man, that ANWR deal is crazy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Let's start drilling in ANWR. Are you afraid of scaring…

PRESIDENT OBAMA: ANWR, I think…

O'REILLY: What, a caribou is going to be scared? Come on. You're with the folks. They can't pay their heating bill and you're worried about a caribou going what's that pipeline doing?

OBAMA: Listen.

O'REILLY: What? What?

OBAMA: One of the great things about this country as you travel around is we've got some beautiful real estate here.

O'REILLY: Oh, come on. Nobody goes to ANWR. You know, what, are you going to run shuttles up there?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Bottom line: TIME allowed its left-leaning posture to skew it's take on the oil spill villains.
===
KIM GONG-IL
Tim Blair
A ronery man appears in the Illawarra Mercury‘s World Cup coverage.

UPDATE. At the 14:00 point of The Catch, another unexpected leadership appearance.
===
SHARE PAID
Tim Blair
“Since when,” asks Andrew Carswell, “is the tax a company pays a gauge of good corporate citizenship?”
Surely a better measure is what companies put into the community directly. In the case of Australia’s mining sector, the biggest way it contributes is through wages.

Last year, mining colossus Rio Tinto paid a phenomenal $7.9 billion in wages and salaries, divided up between its 56,894 employees. That’s an average annual wage of $139,526 for every employee – more than double the average salary in Sydney.

The figures are similar at BHP – wages of $4.5 billion divided between 33,000 employees works out to an average annual wage of $139,272.
Lefty bitches who complain about mining companies “not paying their share” ought to apply for a job. Claim your share, babies. You’ll have to work for it, however, which might present something of a problem.
===
HE FEELS ENTHRALLED
Tim Blair
An announcement from Dalkoiya B. Batchelor – Optimal Health Consultant, Inspirational Speaker, Empathic Emissary, Wordsmith, Researcher, Visioneer and Innovator:
I feel enthralled to share a recipe creation I call Seacado™.
It’s basically seaweed and avocado … plus “1 tbsp Hemp Seeds”. And a trademark.

(Via Achewood)
===
CUE THE MILK-COVERED PELICANS
Tim Blair
First carbon dioxide is defined as a pollutant, and now:
The Environmental Protection Agency intends to classify milk as a hazardous waste; in the same category as oil.
This seems too crazy to be true. Further information is awaited. In additional pollutant news, a Texan smoking ban is denounced as raaacist:
The effort to ban smoking in all workplaces across the city appears to be going up in smoke, as prominent advertising executive Lionel Sosa tonight will brand the proposal as racist, 1200 WAOI news reports.

“The proposed ordinance is economically discriminatory to members of the Hispanic community,” Sosa will tell council, according to a text of his letter obtained by 1200 WOAI news.
We are all Hispanic now. Fight the ban, hermanos.

UPDATE. On the subject of carbon, we have developments in the Northeastern US:
Prices for carbon allowances hit rock bottom in the latest auction for the region’s unique pollution-control system …

This week’s auction, the eighth since the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative cap-and-trade system began, sold 40.7 million carbon-dioxide allowances, which can be used to offset pollution during 2009-2011, for $1.88 each. That is barely above the minimum of $1.80.
Not exactly mining company money. But money is nevertheless being mined:
The money collected from the auctions – $662 million total so far for the 10 participating Northeastern states, including $24 million for New Hampshire – is mostly being spent by the various states on ways to reduce energy usage, including weatherization programs. But cash-strapped states, including New York and New Jersey, have begun raiding the funds to help balance budgets.

New Hampshire is following suit. The latest budget takes $3.1 million in RGGI to help reduce the deficit.
Hmmm.
===
One Rudd doesn’t trust the PM other
Andrew Bolt
I don’t much credit someone dissing their sibling:
GREG Rudd trusts his brother Kevin implicitly as a sibling but not as a politician. But don’t take it too personally, Kev—he feels that way about all politicians, and you’re one of them…

(T)he Prime Minister’s brother (worked) as senior adviser to former Keating government minister Con Sciacca while Kevin was ensconsced in the Queensland cabinet office…

“Who is ‘Kevin 07’? Not relevant,” he writes. “It was a PR campaign that worked well. Keep the T-shirt. Who is Kevin 010? That’s the issue. The public don’t know. He has to explain . . . and not by T-shirt. Can you trust a politician? No. Self-interest rules. Can you trust a politician who is your brother? Yes as a brother, no as a politician. We, the public, have made them that way.”

Among his many jobs, Greg Rudd has been a journalism lecturer but he is critical of the media…

“Should the Rudd government have been moralistic in opposition and said it would ban government advertising? No, very naive. The free press will never convey the government’s full message no matter what side of politics is in power,” he said.
Sibling dynamics are so tricky and incendiary that I tend not to credit what one says of the other, especially when that one is much less famous than the other he’s criticising. But Greg Rudd has chosen to make this very public, so I pass it on, even though I do not give his opinion much weight, and am torn about even publishing it (which is why it’s taken me half the day to decide).
===
Her fault for not submitting to Islam
Andrew Bolt

Mark Steyn is rightly astonished at the Left’s disdain for Ayaan Hirsi Ali:

The latest is Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times. Reviewing Ayaan’s new book Nomad, he begins:

“She has managed to outrage more people—in some cases to the point that they want to assassinate her—in more languages in more countries on more continents than almost any writer in the world today. Now Hirsi Ali is working on antagonizing even more people in yet another memoir.”

That’s his opening pitch: if there are those who wish to kill her, it’s her fault because she’s a provocateuse who’s found a lucrative shtick in “working on antagonizing” people. The Times headlines Kristof’s review “The Gadfly,” as if she’s a less raddled and corpulent Gore Vidal. In fact, she wrote a screenplay for a film; Muslim belligerents threatened to kill her and her director; they made good on one half of that threat. This isn’t shtick.

But Kristof decides to up the condescension. Of the author’s estrangement from her Somali relatives, he writes: “I couldn’t help thinking that perhaps Hirsi Ali’s family is dysfunctional simply because its members never learned to bite their tongues and just say to one another: ‘I love you.’ “
Awwwww. Group hug! Works every time.

===
Don’t want photographers? Don’t sit behind the catcher in a bra
Andrew Bolt

Some pop stars go to baseball in their underwear and are so surprised that the media is not just there but clicking away that they give them the finger:
Lady Gaga was so fed up with the photographers hounding her during a New York Mets game at Citi Field yesterday that she showed them the middle finger.

Apparently she didn’t take kindly to the prime seats she was given right behind home plate, and was caught on camera flipping off any onlookers while receiving a chorus of boos from the crowd. Not surprisingly, her random appearance drew the attention of New York fans, photographers and one confused bat boy, who all flocked to her premium seats near home plate...:

If she didn’t want to stand out in that crowd of T-shirt-wearing, baseball-capped fans, why in the world was she dressed in her “Telephone” costume? A metal-studded black leather bra and matching knickers are bound to be noticed, no matter who is wearing them.

Lady Gaga and her group relocated to Jerry Seinfeld’s luxury box later in the game, where she continued to give any onlookers two middle-finger salutes. If she wants to go unnoticed, maybe wearing pants would attract less attention. I have been to many baseball games and have managed to put ALL of my clothes on for every one of them.
But this is how Western culture now works. Such stupidity, such exhibitionism, such vulgarity, such barbarism - it’s all rewarded with attention (like this) and increased wealth. Unless more of us start laughing and stop buying.

Do your bit.

The harm done to other brands may yet help us:
Gaga was watching the New York Mets play the San Diego Padres at Citi Field in New York, when she flipped cameras the bird.

The singer happened to be sitting in Jerry Seinfeld’s VIP suite, and so The Mets issued an apology to the comedian.”We deeply regret that Jerry Seinfeld has been associated with this matter and have apologized to him,” the organisation said in a statement. “The use of Jerry Seinfeld’s suite was unauthorized and unknown to him at the time. We made a quick decision to place Lady Gaga and her group in a private suite because of issues related to her visit.”
PS

America really is different. True, it’s actually the culture which gave us Lady Gaga, yet at the same time it’s the culture which gives us media outfits that pixilate the extended middle digit, as you’ll see in the clip above.
===
Quick to waste, dangerously slow to fix
Andrew Bolt
In how many more ways could a single Rudd Government program be bungled?

A secret report shows the Federal Government is inspecting less than the recommended number of homes with insulation installed under its axed scheme.

The report, commissioned by the Government and released under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws to the Australia Institute, says at least 212,000 homes with non-foil insulation should be checked.

But the Government has only agreed to carry out safety inspections on 150,000 homes.

===
Truth unveiled
Andrew Bolt
The claim was of the kind that can cause riots: a racist NSW police officer tried to pull the niqab off the face of a Muslim woman. Extremists such as former Guantanamo detainee Mamdouh Habib promptly took up the outraged woman’s claim.

Trouble for them is that the policeman filmed their encounter and is in the clear. So why wasn’t the woman charged? Why hasn’t she apologised? And what does it say about the dangerous culture of victimology in Australia’s Muslim minority?

(Thanks to reader David.)
===
Premier of South Algonquin
Andrew Bolt
My tip is that Mike Rann will resign as Premier during this term in office. And right now he’s enjoying his last stretch:
SOUTH Australia’s missing-in-action Premier, Mike Rann, has surfaced - at a luxury hotel in the heart of New York City. The Advertiser yesterday found Mr Rann alone at a coffee shop near the historic Algonquin Hotel in Manhattan, where he is staying for six nights…

The Premier has been posting reports of his trip on Twitter, leading to accusations he was ignoring state issues including Treasurer Kevin Foley coming under fire for admitting he had been told before the election about a cost increase for the Adelaide Oval redevelopment.

Mr Rann has had more than 22 meetings in London and New York, according to his office and his Twitter entries. The Opposition also said it was “mysterious” that Mr Rann had not taken any staff with him on the trip…

Mr Rann, whose average room rate is around $396 ($US355) per night, is attempting to lure a major defence contract to SA and brush up on policy research during his 10-day jaunt to London and New York… When The Advertiser approached him, Mr Rann at first declined to pose for a photograph, but later agreed, after dashing up to his room to change out of his casual jeans and into a neatly-pressed business suit.
(Thanks to reader CA.)
===
Dumping Rudd
Andrew Bolt
The push to replace Rudd is growing - at last from former Labor MPs:
Former Queensland Labor treasurer Keith De Lacy has urged federal MPs to replace Mr Rudd as leader or risk being swept from power for a generation.

Mr De Lacy, a Goss government stalwart, yesterday savaged the Prime Minister as “an item of ridicule”, as former party powerbroker Graham Richardson warned that Labor was “bleeding votes” because of the Prime Minister’s planned 40 per cent tax on “super profits”.

A Westpoll to be published in Western Australia today, after Mr Rudd and the cabinet spent two days in Perth and promised $2bn would be spent on infrastructure in the resources state, shows Labor’s primary vote in the state at 26 per cent - the lowest ever - and the Coalition holding a two-party-preferred lead of 68 per cent to 32 per cent....

Mr De Lacy, now a coalmining executive, who worked with Mr Rudd when the Prime Minister was Queensland’s top bureaucrat under premier Wayne Goss, writes in The Weekend Australian today: “Labor now run the risk of being out of power for a generation. I regret to say there is no alternative but to change the leader - for someone who cares about Australia and cares about the long-term electability of the Labor Party. There are plenty of them around. But I reckon there is little time to waste.”

Mr Richardson told Sky News Mr Rudd must resolve the details of the proposed tax within a fortnight to stand a chance in the federal election, expected in September or October.
The ABC’s Fran Kelly said the mood in Labor’s ranks is grim:
At least one senior MP told me the Government was going to lose, and other political advisers and strategists privately concurred. “The core of the whole show is complete chaos,” said one. “I think the Government’s actually beaten itself,” said another.
(Thanks to readers Ant and Treeman.)

UPDATE

Here’s more evidence that the Rudd Government’s greatest problem is Rudd himself, and his obsession with appearance over substance. Not only is he using a confrontation of huge financial consequence to the nation to seem tough, he’s tried to use the miners as props to seem consultative. But the mining bosses aren’t hicks and Rudd’s typical smart-arsery seems only to have made things worse. Paul Kelly describes:
Rudd’s tactic this week was to split the industry and to appear consultative in his dealings with the miners. The PM has moved into talks with individual companies. The message is that some of these talks are proceeding better than others. In Perth on Thursday, Rudd met Fortescue Metals Group chief Andrew Forrest, with whom he has enjoyed strong personal ties in the past.

The aim of this meeting is now clear: it signalled a powerful effort by Rudd to persuade Forrest to break ranks and to enter into his own negotiation with the government. Rudd is desperate to shatter the industry’s unity.

After the meeting Forrest sounded conciliatory, saying he was “grateful” to Rudd for the exchange, that he had no “axe to grind” with the PM and that he felt Rudd understood the industry’s issues.

But when Forrest realised the spin being placed on the meeting and his words, he issued a clarification that night: “To be very clear, the Prime Minister and I have nothing to discuss, nor anything to negotiate while this tax stands”. This form of words is critical. It is Forrest rejecting Rudd’s tactic and standing firm…

This followed Rudd’s meeting on Tuesday with BHP Billiton chief Marius Kloppers, who was invited to Sydney for talks with the Prime Minister. This “secret” meeting was leaked to the media by Labor. It created the impression of a PM keen to consult.

However, BHP Billiton concluded it was not a meaningful dialogue. The company got nothing from this process.

A rational person would reach only one conclusion: the meeting was a public relations stunt. This is the conclusion many people have drawn.
This, I think, helps to illustrate the fury now being directed at Rudd by many voters. It’s the feeling of having been taken for a fool - and by a bungler who feels himself much smarter than he actually is.

UPDATE 2

Keith de Lacy:
I REGRET to say Kevin Rudd has to go. He is doing terminal damage to brand Australia…

The (super profits) tax will have dreadful consequences not only for the resources sector but for the general economy and Australia’s reputation as an attractive investment destination…

We have a Prime Minister who is so wounded from his many policy backdowns that he can’t afford to compromise.

Or he feels a macho fight with greedy miners would overcome a perception of weakness.

Heaven help Australia.
UPDATE 3
Terry McCrann:

IS the Prime Minister serious that so-called consultations with the mining industry over the resources super-profits tax could take months?

And that he was therefore prepared to put the country’s future on precarious hold for that period of time? Leave our markets and our economy hostage to rumour and uncertainty, when global financial markets and the world economy remain extremely skittish?

The comment to mate Kochie on Seven’s Sunrise program yesterday was a stunning, if unintentional, confession of bungling.

===
Powering down
Andrew Bolt
Surely the NSW Government isn’t quite so mad yet as to want to cut the state’s throat:
BUILDING coal-fired power plants will be banned in NSW as part of a new climate change policy expected to go to Cabinet next week.With the Federal Government’s abandonment of a national emissions trading scheme, the State Government will move to curb greenhouse gas emissions with a clean energy policy which bans dirty power plants.However, Treasury officials said a ban could push electricity prices even higher for consumers already hit with a 13 per cent price rise on July 1 as much-needed new energy would have to come from more costly sources.
But we know the Rudd Government is capable of anything:
FARMERS with water rights along the Murray River fear they and other irrigators will be scapegoats for the federal government’s failure to implement an emissions trading scheme when a new water policy for the Murray-Darling Basin is announced in the next few weeks.They claim the government is preparing to severely cut irrigation water entitlements to demonstrate its green credentials and to satisfy concerns about the health of the basin.”It looks as though we are going to be the sacrificial lamb leading to the federal election,” said Cheryl Rix, the general manager of Western Murray Irrigation at Dareton, in far south-west NSW.
Reader CA looks on the bright side of stripping farmers of water for their crops:
That’s all right, as no bugger in NSW will be able to store, process or cook food if the ning nongs in NSW ALP get their way.
UPDATE
The more wind farms Germany installs, the less power it (proportionally) gets. Reader berfel explains the latest evidence of the con that is wind power:
This graphic from German renewable energy watcher (date 06.06.2010) shows the “development” of wind power in Germany from 2006 to present.The upper red line is the installed “capacity” against the left scale, currently over 25,000 MW. The jagged red line is the monthly peak generated(left axis) and the green line below is the minimum generated in a month, against the right scale; at about one-fifteenth of the left one.The horizontal scale is the date, below which are the annual brackets of total electricity generated by wind power in Germany over the whole year. (e.g. 37,772 GWh in 2009)The variability makes wind energy unviable for standard grid integration (because of) the cost in filling the gap or of quickly altering other generating capacity.

Further, if one divides the amount of electricity generated over the whole year by the hours in a year, then the mean generating ability of all the 25+GW “capacity” (on paper) is really only about 4GW; about one-sixth; with a reducing trend. The minimum generated is of course much, much less than the mean; at about 1% of “installed capacity”; following the whims of wind and not demand.

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