Why Are Maine's Biomass, Natural Gas and Hopeful Renewable Generators Fighting The Hydro Project ?

   It seems to me that all the biomass, natural gas and hopeful renewable energy plant owners who oppose the Hydro Project because it will hurt them financially might be forgetting something.

    The Hydro Project has a power purchase agreement backing it, so the other generators fear the Hydro Project will price them out of the market.
     So where were these generators when 70% of Maine's wind projects entered into power purchase agreements ?
     Of course, wind plant production is intermittent and needs biomass and natural gas plants for backup. 
     They could lay back, soaking up Forward Capacity Market payments while wind plants spun, and slap a healthy wholesale energy price onto the market when the wind ceased.
       Competition, ain't it great ?

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Comment by Dan McKay on March 6, 2019 at 1:05pm

Thanks Willem,

Would you say the CO2 absorption capacity of the growing forest in Maine is above/below/or in balance with the dispersed amount of CO2 emissions from existing operating biomass plants in Maine ?

Comment by Willem Post on March 6, 2019 at 12:56pm

Dan,

"When you mention re-absorption rates, are you describing the CO2 absorption rate over the lifetime of a tree ?"

No, because after 100 years have passed and all the combustion CO2 has been re-absorbed, the tree is mature and absorbs very little additional CO2 until it is cut down or it dies.

Each year a fresh batch of CO2 is added to the atmosphere for as long as the plants are producing electricity, and each year an additional forest area is in S-curve mode regarding re-absorption of CO2

After 40 or 50 years (the end of the plant), the equivalent of 40 such areas is in re-absorption mode.

Slowly but surely nutrients are removed from the soil and regrowth will be less and less robust accordingly.

The less damage to a forest from roads, development, wind turbines on ridge lines, acid rain, pollution, etc., the healthier the forest, the more sequestering of CO2 per acre.

Comment by Dan McKay on March 3, 2019 at 4:18pm

Willem,

When you mention re-absorption rates, are you describing the CO2 absorption rate over the lifetime of a tree ?  You are right, hydro is a far less expensive method for producing electricity. A lot of Maine's existing hydro plants have and continues to upgrade.
Comment by Willem Post on March 3, 2019 at 4:03pm

If Maine had profitable places to put in new hydro plants, it already would have happened.

It has very little to do with rules and regulations.

Maine could upgrade its existing hydro plants to be more efficient, get more electricity out of the same quantity of water.

H-Q has an ongoing refurbishment of its hydro plants.

it is much less costly than building new ones.

Comment by Willem Post on March 3, 2019 at 3:56pm

H-Q hydro electricity, is much cleaner than tree burning, has much less CO2/ kWh than tree burning, has much less cost/kWh than tree burning.

The réabsorption of tree burning CO2 is according to an S curve, the first 1/3 is slowly increasing, the next 1/3 is rapidly increasing, the last 1/3 is slowly increasing. The whole process takes about 100 years in Maine, about 50 years in The Carolinas.

By that time the world would have come to an end, according to inane climate scare mongers, which includes Governor Mills and her RE sycophants/toadies.

In Vermont, the 25 MW Ryegate tree burning plant gets 10 c/kWh for its entire annual output, a huge gravy train deal, courtesy of the Vermont Standard Offer Program. Welfare for the rich owners.

Now you see why certain groups of folks are for RE. Follow the money.

Every one else gets screwed with higher electric rates, taxes, fees and surcharges, and higher prices of good and services

Comment by Stephen Littlefield on March 2, 2019 at 7:59pm

The new generation systems require no dams, they sit on the bottom and work with the flow of the river. The systems are designed to work as plug and play with the ability to be place in multiple places in the river. This system has been pretty much buried by government for no reason other than it doesn't fit the agenda!

Comment by Long Islander on March 2, 2019 at 7:49pm

Stephen - from four years ago, for what it's worth:

Potential to expand hydropower in Maine dries up

A state effort finds only a small amount of untapped generation, but a consultant says changes in regulatory policies would help.

..........The study did not evaluate sites of potential new dams, but did say Maine has significant opportunities for “hydrokinetic” power facilities that generate electricity from the tides, waves or rivers.............

https://www.pressherald.com/2015/02/06/potential-to-expand-hydropow...

Comment by Stephen Littlefield on March 2, 2019 at 7:24pm

Biomass was only competitive when oil and gas prices were high, with oil and gas prices down it's not competitive! And none are able to compete with hydro power, which begs the question of why Maine not going for the new hydro systems that sit on the bottom of the river? Bangor hydro has one of these 'test' hydro systems that last I heard had been powering 27 home steady, makes you wonder with all the rivers we have, why aren't the powers to be looking at that, cheaper consistent power? Hmmmm?

Comment by Long Islander on March 2, 2019 at 1:36pm

Pigs at the Trough

 

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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