Expert warns green energy projects ‘are not worth it’ as prices spiral ‘out of control’
One market expert has added on to many Republican lawmakers’ concerns over the transition to a green energy agenda.
“We just had Ørsted come out today and say they’re canceling their Norway project just after they canceled their two U.S. projects because costs are spiraling out of control. So these projects are just not worth it,” Hilltower Resource Advisors founder and CEO Tracy Shuchart said on “Making Money with Charles Payne” Monday.
Shuchart referenced the Denmark-based offshore wind company which announced Tuesday that its chief operations and finance officers were stepping down after significant losses, Reuters reported.
Ørsted specifically noted rising inflation, interest rates and supply chain delays as main causes for the switch up, while other green energy producers and stocks have found themselves in the red overall this year.
The plummeting stocks and bust of renewable energy projects come as The North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) reported in its annual Winter Reliability Assessment that, for the first time in its 55-year history, energy policy is one of the top threats to the U.S. power grid due to the Biden administration’s green agenda.
Additionally, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) said the key factors contributing to the risk are increasing demand for electricity to power things like electric vehicles, decreasing generation due to the premature closures of coal and gas-fired power plants, and permitting delays that prevent new infrastructure from being built and connected to the grid.
NRECA hit out directly at the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed power plant rule aimed at reducing plant emissions by 90% by 2035, saying the Biden administration’s plan uses “unproven technologies and unrealistic compliance timelines” and “threatens electric reliability and affordability for every American.”
“Companies can’t build these projects right now. It’s just not feasible,” Shuchart added. “So, at some point, people are going to have to wake up because we still need energy.”
The market expert added that there’s “a lot” of energy and crude oil on U.S. soil that can also be produced in an eco-friendly fashion – for cheap.
“We’ve got a lot of oil to sell. Obviously, we’re not going to refill the [Strategic Petroleum Reserve] anytime soon. So those barrels need to go somewhere,” she said. “And WTI [stock], if you look at the other light crude oil selling across the globe right now, it’s selling for much less than, say, Saudi Arabia’s light crude oil.”