New Maine PUC's scrutiny of wind contracts has the wind grifters running scared
When Governor Baldacci handpicked a wind task force and told them to remove all obstacles for the wind developers, today's critics never said that was meddling. Or how about the 171 pages of emails between then Senate president Justin Alfond and the wind industry that were revealed when the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting recently nailed Alfond? None of these critics called that meddling. Nor has the media uttered one peep as a follow up to the Center's expose. How about when the CEO of First Wind, Paul Gaynor served as advisor on renewable energy to Mass Governor Deval Patrick at a time when First Wind got the state of Massachusetts to sign power purchase agreements with First Wind wind projects in Maine. Was there any meddling going on down in Mass and across state lines? Certainly none of today's critics ever called that meddling. When Kurt Adams, Baldacci's former chief counsel and PUC chair took over $1 million in stock options from First Wind after interviewing there for months at a time his PUC was greasing the skids for the $1.4 Billion CMP upgrade (an outright gift to the wind companies paid for by ratepayers where the Commissioners overruled PUC staff), right before he jumped to First Wind as their director of transmission, did anyone call that meddling? Certainly not Attorney General Janet Mills who pronounced Adams' behavior perfectly fine. It would seem that meddling is in the eye of the beholder. I behold that what Governor LePage is doing is not meddling, but rather his job - serving the citizens of Maine.
While LePage’s letter aroused political controversy, the about 50 comments submitted Monday by wind industry advocates and other interested parties will fuel the bulk of discussion during PUC deliberations on the contracts Wednesday.
The Maine Democratic Party on Monday chided Republican Gov. Paul LePage for “meddling” in the business of the Maine Public Utilities Commission, based on a Dec. 8, 2014, letter in which LePage urged the commission to reconsider long-term contracts for two wind projects that have not yet been built.
The three-member commission’s makeup has changed since December, with LePage’s former legal counsel, Carlisle McLean, taking over for chairman Tom Welch, who retired early from his six-year term at the end of 2014. Mark Vannoy, another LePage appointee, became chairman after Welch’s departure.
http://bangordailynews.com/2015/02/23/energy/maine-regulators-new-l...
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Comment by Martha thacker on February 24, 2015 at 8:38am
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Hey, Maine Democratic Party...(1) how did supporting wind energy work out for Mike Michaud? (2) How does refusing to research facts work out for you now? i.e. look who is governor. He is right on this.
I am a life long democrat.
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Comment by Brad Blake on February 24, 2015 at 12:18am
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In my other comment here, I mention negative pricing being a strategy of the manipulative wind thieves. Here is an explanation:
When non-dispatchable energy generators (eg. wind industry) produce electricity which is in excess of the current "load" they either have to curtail output or pay off other generators to not produce electricity for the grid. Since non-dispatchable generators are more dependent on non-energy revenues, e.g. REC's and derivatives/swaps, they can still make a profit even after paying off the competition to not compete. Negative pricing is a device to assist the mandates and subsidies to energy types which cannot compete on their own merits. The long term consequence of negative pricing is that traditional dispatchable generation will gradually withdraw from the market due to the unstable market conditions and grid stability will be undermined.
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In the BDN article, it states: "The Weaver Wind project would sell power at about 5.3 cents per
kilowatt-hour for 25 years and the Highland project would sell its power
for 4.7 cents per kilowatt-hour for 20 years." The wind industry wants to be sure the public thinks this is a great deal, but it is part of a scam. Sure, they can enter into these contracts, but if they were actually competing in a free market, they would lose their shirts. But the wind industry enjoys 30% investment credits, the same kilowatts they sell on these contracts also qualify for Production Tax Credit, and the same kilowatt can also be sold as Renewable Energy Credits. In what other industry can a commodity or service be sold three different ways? The wind industry thieves don't need to sell at higher prices to the grid in order to make money.
Furthermore, selling below cost in long term Power Purchase Agreements is part of the wind industry's nefarious campaign to destabilize the electricity market with negative pricing, which is designed to put economic pressure on conventional generators so they lose money and close. This is aided not only by the favorable financial schemes put in place to promote non-competetive wind power, but also by the heinous arbitrary mandates from states' "Renewable Portfolio Standards" that force electric utilities to purchase wind power.
The more non-dispatchable wind power is brought into the grid by RPS standards, the more negative pricing will occur and the more destabilized and costly will our electricity grid become. Be very concerned about this trend! I hope our PUC and our "Public" Advocate are paying very close attention to this and will curtail the proliferation of artificially supported wind power.
Maine as Third World Country:
CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power
Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.
Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********
(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/
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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law
Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future
"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."
https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/
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