PPH & BDN - Massachusetts and Rhode Island announce large offshore wind projects

PPH

BOSTON — Massachusetts and Rhode Island have announced offshore wind projects aimed at delivering a combined 1,200 megawatts of energy, enough to power 400,000 homes.

The Vineyard Wind project will be Massachusetts’ first offshore wind farm and is expected to generate 800 megawatts of energy. That’s about 5.5 percent to 6 percent of the state’s total annual electric load.

State officials said that represents the largest single procurement of offshore wind by any state in the nation. Vineyard Wind was selected by Massachusetts over two other offshore wind proposals: Bay State Wind and Deepwater Wind.

Also Wednesday, Democratic Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo said the state had selected the same Deepwater Wind project proposed for Massachusetts – a 400-megawatt offshore wind farm called Revolution Wind.

Both projects, which the states described as a collaborative effort, will be located south of Martha’s Vineyard................................................................

In Maine, Gov. Paul LePage has been a persistent critic of the wind and solar energy industries, suggesting such renewable technologies drive up electricity costs for ratepayers and cannot compete without government subsidies.

In January, LePage imposed a moratorium on new wind energy projects in western and coastal Maine while establishing a secretive commission to study how wind turbines affect the state’s tourism economy. The moratorium would remain in place until a new Maine Wind Energy Advisory Commission – which will have meetings that are closed to the public and not subject to Maine’s Freedom of Access Act – reports on wind power’s economic impact and recommends potential regulatory changes.

Lawsuits filed to overturn the moratorium are still pending in court...............................................................

Continue reading at:

https://www.pressherald.com/2018/05/23/massachusetts-and-rhode-isla...

BDN

CMP’s parent company to build nation’s largest offshore wind project

A subsidiary of Central Maine Power’s parent company won the right Wednesday to negotiate a contract for what will be the nation’s largest offshore wind project, off the Massachusetts coast.

Avangrid Renewables is a 50 percent stakeholder in the “Vineyard Wind” project, which will deliver enough electricity to power more than 400,000 Massachusetts homes....................................

Continue reading at:

https://bangordailynews.com/2018/05/23/business/cmps-parent-company...

Mass Live

Vineyard Wind scores Massachusetts utility contracts in state-sponsored clean energy contest

http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/05/vineyard_wind_sc...

RELATED: Deepwater in too deep?
It looked so good at first blush.

It checked all the hot boxes – Green. Alternate Energy. Zero carbon footprint.

We would end our dependence on fossil fuel, the developers promised.

But when folks in East Hampton started taking a closer look at a proposed Deepwater Wind project off the coast of Montauk, the negatives began outweighing the positives for a lot of people who felt they would be adversely affected, especially those in the fishing community.

When the word spread that Deepwater Wind had hidden the true cost of the electricity it was going to produce for local ratepayers, and that it could end up being much more expensive than that of conventional electricity, there seemed to be a seismic shift in public opinion. At least if the crowd that gathered in East Hampton on May 17 was any indication...........................................

Read the full article at:

https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2018/05/23/deepwater-in-too-deep/

Views: 180

Comment

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

Comment by Long Islander on May 24, 2018 at 5:30am

Again, the two newspapers maintain their perfect record of not reporting to their readers that ex-Gov Baldacci is Vice Chairman of Avangrid.

In September 2009 Governor Baldacci returns from an Iberdrola-hosted trip to Europe to "study" wind. Upon his return he talks of a Maine law that prevents companies like Iberdrola from owning transmission (which they do) and owning wind projects (which they want to do). He talks about his needing to look into this law and getting it changed. This is covered in the press. Such a law is now under consideration in the legislature. (January 2016). In December 2015, former Governor John Baldacci became Vice Chairman of Iberdrola's wind division, Avangrid. This is not covered in the press. (Also see: AVANGRIDInc_Form_8K_12-14-15%20-%20Copy.pdf )
 
From September 2009:
"Baldacci also says the state is planning to change local regulations to allow Spanish renewables giant Iberdrola Renovables to invest in wind farms there. Iberdrola is unable to invest in generation because of the transmission and distribution assets it owns in the state through Central Maine Power; however, Baldacci says legislation being proposed in the state legislature would change the rules for renewable generation".
An even better version of this quote from Baldacci appeared in one of the articles in the PPH which reporter Matt Wickenheiser wrote, covering Baldacci's European wind trip.
SEE:

 

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

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service