This picture taken on November 12, 2024 shows a wind turbine in front of the lignite-fired power station operated by German energy giant RWE near Neurath, western Germany.
Conservatives, by temperament, tend to embrace most things traditional, particularly when those traditions carry the added charm of quaintness.
When it comes to our energy needs, however, most conservatives — indeed, most modern people in general — prefer reliability.
Thursday, on the social media platform X, in a post that went mega-viral, Mark W. Nelson, founder & Managing Director of Radiant Energy Group, noted “panic” among German utility executives following a “shocking 12-day wind drought.”
Nelson, who holds an M.Phil in Nuclear Engineering from Cambridge University, described the situation as “coming to a breaking point.”
The post featured a screenshot of a “desperate plea” from Dr. Markus Krebber, CEO of the European energy corporation RWE AG.
“At the beginning of this month, Germany’s power supply reached its limits,” Krebber wrote on LinkedIn.
Citing Nov. 6 as an example, Krebber bemoaned extreme high energy prices and “shortage of supply.” He also warned that the “same situation would not have been manageable on another day with a higher peak load.”
In other words, Europe’s over-reliance on wind power means that when wind speeds slow, energy producers sometimes cannot meet demand.
By Monday morning, Nelson’s post had nearly 41 million views on X according to public metrics.
According to the UK’s The Telegraph, diminished wind power generation coincides with what Germans call “Dunkelflaute,” or “dark wind lull.”
During periods when high-pressure weather systems result in reduced wind speeds, wind turbines naturally produce little-to-no energy.
This state of affairs suppressed energy supply and raised prices in the UK, Germany and elsewhere in northern Europe earlier this month.
Of course, British government officials have learned all the wrong lessons from “Dunkelflaute.”
For instance, Chris Stark, appointed in July to head the government’s new clean energy-focused Mission Control, doubled down on renewables.
“Even small amounts of low-carbon flex can displace a lot of gas. We’ll also need to support the build of a lot of new renewable generation – of all types, but especially offshore wind,” Stark said on Nov. 5.
Historians who immerse themselves in centuries-old correspondence eventually make an interesting discovery.
In short, our ancestors often wrote wonderful letters while sitting in a port town and waiting for favorable winds. They could not board ships and set sail until the weather cooperated. And sometimes that took weeks. Thus, in many cases, they made the most of their frequent downtime by putting quill to parchment.
There is, of course, something charming about a world so unhurried.
That does not mean, however, that virtue-signaling government officials should subject modern people to the vicissitudes of “Dunkelflaute.”
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