Stetson and Mars Hill real power output

Comment

Comment by Mary Elen Marucci on December 3, 2010 at 4:43pm

I try not to follow the nuances of politics reflected in the change of heads of various governmental PR companies, such as the governor's offices throughout this nation, but I must say if the rumor is true that LePage believes that Nuclear is clean and can save us ( there is a lot of federal money available if he does) then I think I will pay more attention.

Comment by Thinklike A. Mountain on November 29, 2010 at 8:33pm

Producing electricity is one thing. But how much of this electricity replaces electricity generated by combusting fossil fuel, which is the reason John Baldacci said we had to have these wind "farms"?

Actually, John Baldacci said we had to have these wind farms to get us off oil, and we know that is not true for here in Maine we use but a few drops of oil to generate electricity. NRCM has the brass to say we need the wind "farms" to reduce our use of coal, yet we don't make electricity with coal in Maine. Because the oil and coal claims have been exposed as being patently false, they are starting to back away from those claims. And now they are revising history to say that wind will reduce the need for natural gas.

In fact, in a major wind article by Tux Turkel on 11/14/10, we find the quote: " helping the state meet its renewable energy goals and the region reduce its dependence on natural gas-fired electricity.".

You read that right, we now suddenly have a problem of being dependent on natural gas!

According to Reuters on November 10th, "the world will be swimming in natural gas for another decade as U.S. domestic production surges and other nations ramp up their abilities to export gas as LNG". In fact, it looks as though the unthinkable is shaping up - that the U.S. will become a net exporter of LNG.

For those who watch their carbon, natural gas power plants produce half the carbon emissions of coal, 80% fewer NOx emissions, virtually no pollution from sulfur dioxide (a component of acid rain) and zero emissions of the harmful toxin mercury.

So it's just great to see that the brilliant businessman and economist John Baldacci and his equally gifted economic experts at NRCM are now fighting to reduce natural gas use. Frankly, if they took all the energies they put into wind as well as the money, and directed it into expanding natural gas infrastructure in Maine, homes could eventually move from oil to gas and they'd actually reduce the carbon they are concerned over. Instead they advocate for useless wind.

But I digress - so back to Mr. Roper's observed capacity factors and the question "how much of this electricity replaces electricity generated by combusting fossil fuel?"

The answer to this is not "as many KWH's of electricity the wind turbines produce" as the professional truth benders in the wind industry would have you believe. In fact, the answer to the question is "almost no reductions, if any, in fossil fuel occur because of wind".

How could that be?

In a nutshell, the reason for this is that the grid does not know how to integrate electricity produced by wind, meaning virtually no fossil fuel fired electricity can be cut back". This is due to the fact that wind cannot be relied upon, even if there is a weather forecast of lots of wind. So because it cannot be relied upon, other electricity sources, reliable ones like natural gas, must be contracted for to ensure adequate electricity supply the next day. Usually wind is so insignificant and sporadic that the grid keeper simply ignores any electricity that occurs (and which we are charged for) the moment the wind blows. So typically, no fossil fuel fired electricity is cut back. And even if this is attempted, the skitter of the wind sends the natural gas plants into a state of havoc, moving up and down and up and down, trying to mirror the skittering wind. Moving up and down like this is tantamount to a car driving in stop and go traffic - it becomes wholly fuel inefficient.

The wind industry has struggled with this dirty little secret of grid incompatibility for years and years. It will not even begin to be solved for a likely 20-30 years minimum, well after the turbines being erected across Maine today are dead rusting hulks, with no funds available for their removal.

As John Kerry, Governor Baldacci's energy Tsar says, please just give us to 2050.

It is my sincere hope that Governor-Elect LePage will bring some electricity experts and economics experts onto the scene and send Angus and Baldacci's decisionmaking lawyers and lobbyists packing.

Said another way, amateur hour should only last one hour, not 16 years.