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... and the power of subsidies |
Frederick Gallagher, son of oil
man "Smiling Jack" Gallagher, is betting on wind power. His company,
Vision Quest Windelectric, has four windmills operating in southwest Ontario,
each of which cost a million dollars, and plans to build two more.
Evidently, the project is expecting to turn a profit in the current fiscal year, something that is unusual for a wind energy company. Reading beyond the headlines, we find the following statement in the Toronto Globe and Mail: "Vision Quest's rising fortunes are a result of federal policies that are buying its output, some speculations from the oil patch, and a successful promotional campaign by Calgary's electricity distribution company, Enmax Corp." I could make a profit selling electricity from hamsters running in squirrel cages, despite unreliability, variable output, low output at best, and high maintenance costs if I could get the government to buy the electricity at a high enough price. Bill Gates could make even more by linking the hamster farm with his little oil patch (Microsoft). Now, if we could just hire a snake-oil salesman to promote the venture ... |
