What the heck IS it with Progressive/Socialists, especially European ones? They’re not content with their own papercuts, they want everyone to have one, and a shared lemon to squeeze on them.

Life is nothing to a socialist, if not self inflicted pain.

Take Germany for example…after example…after example.

From Angela Merkel through the Green Party and progressives who have been in charge of Germany for the past decades – especially the past few years? The consequences of of their rush to embrace a future dictated by Climate Cultists over every consideration of energy security for their own people has led to a cycle of inflationary pressures and the deindustrialization of the mighty German production machine.

At the very heart of the nail in their cult coffin was that fatally flawed decision to pull the plug permanently on the remaining sources of safe, reliable electrical generation they had – their nuclear plants. They turned those off this past April.

…Please watch as Germany self-immolates. The green lights extinguishing are the remaining nuclear power plants in the country shutting down permanently this weekend.

Not because they’re BROKEN or anything.

Just because.

End of Nuclear power in Germany this week.

Energy production from 2000 until today.

Germany is in the process of shutting down economically, making their electric grid MORE expensive and less competitive. Companies are more likely to build elsewhere. pic.twitter.com/zDkGDennrK

— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) April 14, 2023

Certain financially interested parties are reportedly making sure those reactors stay shuttered, even as there was almost immediate discussion about reviving a few of them.

…Rumors are bubbling up to people in the business that RWE has already made a move to protect its nascent goldmine in the coal shaft.

Still waiting on government approval to begin dismantling the reactors, RWE has spiked the rods in one of them, just in case anyone had any plans to fire those bad boys back up.

The French firm that manufactures replacement parts is saying at least two and a half years before they can get them done.

It’s been hell on wheels for the German economy ever since, when even the Italians are eating their lunch. The Germans were the only G-7 country forecast to be in negative GDP territory for the year.

There’s a big, fat lesson in here playing out in real time, but it sure seems as if some of the neighbors are a little slow – if not downright oblivious – to picking up on it.

The progressive government in Spain, which is not very popular in its own right at the moment…

This is yet another example of how the MSM wants to form public opinion. They do not want the public to know about the strong protests for freedom in Spain. Just like they did not want it about Brazil. Just like they don't want to silence news about freedom around the world… https://t.co/USpTQJJUPb

— Kristen Muzzy (@RivetingConnect) December 26, 2023

…should be taking a deep breath and a deep look at what they’re doing that people take to the streets in massive numbers for 56 days straight, with no end in sight. Perhaps it would behoove that government to also take a look at the rest of the continent – there are no great distances there, so it’s not a real stretch – and see what’s working and, more importantly, what’s not.

Being socialists and progressives, they’ve chosen to do the exact opposite.

D’oh!

Haven’t they seen how Germany is going fast into a recession?

Energy independence is key to success nowadays

— The Contrarian Desk (@contrariandesk) December 28, 2023

This decision should work out great for everyone, no?

Somehow the Socialists (PSOE) triumphed in a July election they’d lost initially. Conservatives (PP – People’s Party) had beaten the Socialists by numbers enough to take the premiership, but not enough of an outright majority to take control of the parliament. And when the Socialists worked a deal with separatist Catalans, well…that’s all she wrote. The Socialists stayed right where they were.

Throughout the campaigning, conservative candidates warned of this very outcome were the PSOE to retain control of the government.

…”It will be a policy of my government to reverse the planned decommissioning and extend the life of our nuclear power plants,” PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo said on Monday in Barcelona.

Spain’s nuclear plants generate about a fifth of the country’s electricity.

“We cannot unplug 21% of the energy installed in Spain without having another 21% capable of running with renewable energy,” Feijoo said, adding that in such scenario “the price of energy will rise exponentially”.

Meanwhile the Socialists have been one of the main champions in Europe of a harder, faster transition to a zero-carbon economy, preferring renewable energy such as solar and wind.

With abundant sun and wind, as well as vast swathes of empty land, Spain holds all the cards to be a European leader in renewables, and some energy experts see a nuclear U-turn being at odds with the expected growth of those energy sources.

Jorge Morales de Labra, head of energy firm Proxima Energia, said keeping the reactors on would “discourage investment in renewables”.

La-dee-dah! Lots of “abundant sun and wind.”

And now the PSOE is charging ahead.

Spain on Wednesday confirmed plans to close the country’s nuclear plants by 2035 as it presented energy measures including extended deadlines for renewable projects and adjusted renewable auctions.

The management of radioactive waste and dismantling of the plants, whose shut down will begin in 2027, will cost about 20.2 billion euros ($22.4 billion) and will be paid for by a fund supported by the plants’ operators, the government said.

But they’d better get a leg under them taking advantage of all that sun and wind, and pronto. Because what capacity they have to replace when these reactors are shuttered is going to be a buttload, and that’s not taking into account what they have to replace on the wind side which is already beginning to age out.

Yeah, that’s right. More than a third of Spain’s turbines need to be replaced in the next five years. Hello.

Good luck with that.

And say – what are they gonna do with thousands upon thousands of crapped out turbine blades?

According to the industry association, every third wind turbine currently operating in Spain was installed before 2005, while the lifespan of wind turbines generating electricity is estimated at 20-25 years.

Despite this, about 85% of components, including steel, copper wires, electronics, and generators, can be reused. The challenging aspect of disposal is the fiberglass blades of the turbines, which only a few landfills accept.

Industry experts suggest that the future lies in replacing old systems with new and more efficient ones. With fewer wind turbines, the same or more energy can be produced, reducing environmental costs, as highlighted by the Ministry of Ecological Transition in Madrid.

The Spanish might want to replace older versions with “new and efficient ones” but they can’t even fix what they have NOW, less mind make up for what they’re now planning TO TURN OFF VOLUNTARILY. Just a couple of months ago…

…In June, the Spanish government raised its wind power target to 62 GW by 2030, up from a previous target of 50 GW, as part of an ambitious climate plan to generate 81% of the country’s electricity from renewables by 2030. The draft plan doubles the solar target from 39 GW to 76 GW and sets a slightly higher storage target of 22 GW.

To meet this objective, wind developers will need to install roughly 4 GW a year over the next seven years, well above the 1.4 GW they installed in 2022.

However, surging solar capacity and a lack of power demand are deflating power prices and increasing the curtailment of solar and wind farms. Last year, solar installations hit a record 7 GW, whereas energy demand declined by 2.9% as high costs, economic slowdowns and energy efficiency measures impacted power consumption across the European Union.

Curtailments are creating “a headache for many investors,” Antonio de Juan Fernandez, the director of AFRY Management Consulting, told Reuters Events. Developers also face permitting and grid delays that delay projects and increase costs.

…Spain’s policymakers need to boost demand and accelerate grid expansions to curb the risks, Fernandez said.

Spain is “building more and more megawatts of renewable energy…but to ensure that energy is injected into the power grid we need electric vehicles, storage, green hydrogen, and more connections with other countries to export power … that is not happening right now,” he said.

My Daddy used to call it The Seven P’s:

Proper
Prior
Planning
Prevents
Piss
Poor
Performance

Progressives ruin everything they touch, and when they get in positions of power, they can’t keep their grasping, greasy paws off of anything. “Planning” never comes into any part of it.

Where’s a good hard charging, windmill berserker when you need him?