Future Transmission Upgrades For Wind Will Need PUC Approval
"Integrating Intermittent Renewable Resources. A number of wind projects have interconnected to electrically remote and weak portions of the regional power system, and additional wind projects are proposed for these areas. These facilities pose operational and planning challenges due to issues with voltage and stability performance. In addition, the basic assumptions in interconnection studies may be different from the typical operation of the system, which may further constrain wind output under stressed system conditions, such as during maintenance outages."
"The results show that local transmission upgrades could likely accommodate additional wind resource interconnections planned for the Wyman Hydro and Rumford regions in Maine but without major transmission improvements to those local areas. However, additional wind capacity cannot be well integrated into the Keene Road and Bangor regions, also in Maine, without major transmission improvements to these areas. The addition of generation to the Aroostook region of Maine also would require new major transmission facilities to successfully interconnect these resources and integrate them with the rest of the New England system. Regional improvements would be needed to accommodate resources remote from the New England load centers, such as the total wind resources in all the northern New England regions. These transmission improvements could include a major dynamic voltage device, 345 kV dynamically acting series-compensating devices, and 115 kV capacitors."
Views: 230
Comment
-
Comment by Dan McKay on March 26, 2015 at 6:39pm
-
There really is not much sense in keeping wind-resourced energy as the only Maine renewable allowed to exceed the 100 megawatt limit. The total megawatts of wind plants in operation, under construction and with environmental and/or financial permits exceeds transmission transfer limits in Maine.
With the 40% renewable standard already reached and with wind megawatts soon to be at full transmission capacity , there really is not much sense in subsidizing renewables with Renewable Energy Credits and continuing the Renewable Portfolio Standard.With that said, it does make sense to amend the LD that eliminates the 100 megawatt limit on hydro power into an act to eliminate the renewable portfolio standard.
-
Comment by Martha thacker on March 26, 2015 at 6:16pm
-
I am in Unorganized Territory, have Eastern Maine Electric..if I can legally do it, I'm in.
-
-
One of the problems with the Maine PUC extending contracts to wind plant owners as was done for Downeast Wind LLC, Weaver Wind LLC and Highland Wind LLC is it is done prior to the construction of such plants. When the wind plant owner finds the need for transmission upgrades to accommodate the plant's output, the PUC, the governing agency for approval/denial of transmission upgrades is in a rather compromising position.
-
Comment by alice mckay barnett on March 26, 2015 at 5:05pm
-
think like a mountain, will you petition with me? and 8 others?
-
-
(1) First Wind is documented in their SEC reports as saying ME would have transmission lines to accommodate Stetson I by 2011. The same was also stated about Cohocton in NY.The grid was at capacity when it was built which was wrong from the start.
(2) Then the ME grid being at capacity prior to the building of Stetson I was in their SEC report as a positive. All of this is under risk factors.
(3) The hearing between the US govt. and FERC is documented , but scrubbed from the internet, but in the document it is stated that there is a bottleneck in Orrington and no power can go south of there. This is where the "upgrades" are to start.This has been a well kept secret. (hence the scrubbing) We should not , as rate payers , have to dig around on the internet for this information unless there is something to hide.
(3) NH is unwilling to build their "upgrades" so it is folly anyway. The big Mass . market for power is the target.
(4) MPUC should have to prove why the "upgrades" are needed in light of these facts.
(5) Former Conn. gov. Richard Blumenthal stated he wasn't going to build new transmission lines for a few wind farms in upper state ME. around 2009
(6) Why is New England in Cap and Trade when it was never passed in congress? Former gov. Blumenthal sued Iso New England for 1.2 million dollars worth of power charged to New England rate payers for power never produced.
(7) Even former MPUC members have had doubts about the original notion that Mainers would not bear the cost of the original hair brained notion for underwater cabel from Wiccasset to Boston.
(8) When this hair brained notion was being bandied about there wasn't even a market for ME wind power. It was to be sold through NStar as alternative. And people would just rush to pay for it. Also it was illegal at the time. They had to get a few laws changed. We all know how easy that is to do. I have this information printed out if it is just too crazy to believe. So many other important info is scrubbed from the internet. So , if a good detective is hired, he or she would have to have good skills on finding this type of information.
That with Mainers bearing the cost of the "upgrades" is more than enough to go to the MPUC with. Finding people who are willing and capable to present the facts might be problematic.
(9) When Stetson was built despite the grid being at capacity, there were problems with existing power plants. One, I think in Fort Kent, had to sell because Iso New England could get power cheaper from Canada. (guess they don't have power purchase agreements.) Another , Indeck, had to sell because Iso New England did not pay agreed upon price. (maybe they did have power purchase agreements). The new buyer was unaware of the little grid problem.Brookfield in Millinocket had to hire a lot of lawyers to keep from being shut down.
So , Iso New England, was certainly ready willing and able to do their bit to help out the new and improved renewable energy source in ME. NH could count their hydro as a renewable.Don't think Maine could because it is legal to have power purchase agreement with a foreign country that does not require actual power production. NY and ME have been targeted because we border Canada.
I think there is ample evidence of fraud and collusion here. Just takes back bone , I guess, to go for it.
-
Comment by Thinklike A. Mountain on March 26, 2015 at 3:38pm
-
Alice - it's enough to make me want to PUC!
-
-
The "2014 ISO-NE Regional System Report" identifies areas in Maine that would require major transmission upgrades to accommodate more wind plant output. Maine needs an alternative proposal to wind plants which the elimination of 100 megawatt limit on all eligible renewable resources does. It is the best option available right now in Augusta for the ratepayers, not only in Maine, but all of New England.
-
-
Is that enough to petition the PUC?
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/
Not yet a member?
Sign up today and lend your voice and presence to the steadily rising tide that will soon sweep the scourge of useless and wretched turbines from our beloved Maine countryside. For many of us, our little pieces of paradise have been hard won. Did the carpetbaggers think they could simply steal them from us?
We have the facts on our side. We have the truth on our side. All we need now is YOU.
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
-- Mahatma Gandhi
"It's not whether you get knocked down: it's whether you get up."
Vince Lombardi
Task Force membership is free. Please sign up today!
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/
© 2024 Created by Webmaster.
Powered by
You need to be a member of Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine to add comments!
Join Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine