Comments - FMM Testifies on Renewable & Climate Legislation - Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine2024-03-19T07:44:35Zhttps://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/comment/feed?attachedTo=4401701%3ABlogPost%3A167257&xn_auth=noCost Shifting is the Name of…tag:www.windtaskforce.org,2019-05-12:4401701:Comment:1673992019-05-12T07:56:40.120ZWillem Posthttps://www.windtaskforce.org/profile/WillemPost942
<p><strong>Cost Shifting is the Name of the Game Regarding Wind and Solar</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p>Cost shifting is rarely mentioned, identified or quantified. Those costs, as c/kWh, could be quantified, but it is politically convenient to charge them to:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>- Ratepayers, via electric rate schedules, and/or added taxes, fees and surcharges on electric bills</p>
<p>- Directly to taxpayers, such as carbon taxes and user fees.</p>
<p>- Directly to federal and state…</p>
<p><strong>Cost Shifting is the Name of the Game Regarding Wind and Solar</strong></p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p>Cost shifting is rarely mentioned, identified or quantified. Those costs, as c/kWh, could be quantified, but it is politically convenient to charge them to:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>- Ratepayers, via electric rate schedules, and/or added taxes, fees and surcharges on electric bills</p>
<p>- Directly to taxpayers, such as carbon taxes and user fees.</p>
<p>- Directly to federal and state budgets and debts</p>
<p> </p>
<p>No cost ever disappears. Eventually, the various costs would increase the prices of energy and of other goods and services.</p>
<p>Efficiencies improvements elsewhere in the economy may partially, or completely, offset such increases.</p>
<p>However, RE subsidies would divert capital from other sectors of the economy, which likely would result in fewer improvements in efficiencies.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Cost Shifting</strong>: Here is a partial list of the costs that were <strong>shifted</strong>, i.e., <strong>not charged</strong><strong> </strong>to wind and solar plant owners, to make wind and solar <span>appear</span> less costly than in reality to the lay public and legislators.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>1) The various forms of grid-stabilizing inertia (presently provided by synchronous gas, coal, oil, nuclear, bio and hydro plants).</p>
<p> </p>
<p>2) The filling-in, peaking and balancing by traditional generators (mostly gas turbines in New England), due to wind and solar variability/intermittency, 24/7/365. The more wind and solar on the grid, the larger the required up/down ramping capacity of the gas turbines, which imparts added costs to owners for which they likely would not be paid:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>- Less annual production to cover power plant costs, which jeopardizes the economic viability of the plant</p>
<p> </p>
<p>- Inefficient remaining production (more fuel/kWh, more CO2/kWh), due to up/down ramping at part load, which further adds to owner costs, and reduces less CO2 than claimed. See URL</p>
<p><a href="http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/fuel-and-co2-reductions-due-to-wind-energy-less-than-claimed" target="_blank">http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/fuel-and-co2-reductions-due-to-wind-energy-less-than-claimed</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>- More wear and tear on the gas turbine plants, which further adds to owner costs</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>NOTE</strong>: All of this is quite similar to a car efficiently operating at a steady 55 mph, versus a car inefficiently operating at continuously varying speeds between 45 mph to 65 mph.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>3) Any battery systems to stabilize distribution grid with many solar systems. They would quickly offset downward spikes due to variable cloud cover. See URL.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/large-scale-solar-plants-require-large-scale-battery-system" target="_blank">http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/large-scale-solar-plants-require-large-scale-battery-system</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>4) Any measures to deal with DUCK curves, such as a) daily gas turbine plant down and up ramping, b) utility-scale storage and c) demand management.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>5) Grid-related costs, such as grid extensions and augmentations to connect the remotely distributed wind and solar, and to deal with variable/intermittent wind and solar on the grid. Those grid items usually are utilized at the low capacity factors of wind and solar, i.e., a lot of hardware doing little work.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>6) Utility-scale electricity storage (presently provided by the world’s traditional fuel supply system).</p>
<p><a href="https://www.neon-energie.de/Hirth-2013-Market-Value-Renewables-Solar-Wind-Power-Variability-Price.pdf">https://www.neon-energie.de/Hirth-2013-Market-Value-Renewables-Solar-Wind-Power-Variability-Price.pdf</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p>The above 6 items are entirely <strong>separate</strong><span> </span>from the high levels of <strong>direct and indirect </strong>subsidies. They serve to make wind and solar <strong>appear</strong><span>to be </span>much less costly, than in reality. See sections 1 and 2 and Appendix.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>All that enables wind and solar proponents to endlessly proclaim: “Wind and solar are competitive with fossil and nuclear”.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Example of Cost Shifting</strong>: For example, to bring wind electricity from the Panhandle in west Texas to population centers in east Texas, about 1000 miles, $7 billion of transmission was built. The entire cost was “socialized”, i.e., it appeared as a surcharge on residential electric bills.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Example of Cost Shifting</strong>: Often the expensive grid connection of <strong>offshore wind plants</strong>, say from 20 miles south of Martha's Vineyard, across the island, and then to the reinforced mainland grid, is not included in the capital cost estimates, i.e., all or part of it is provided by the utilities that buy the electricity under PPAs to make PPA-pricing appear smaller than in reality. That cost is “socialized”, i.e., it appears as a surcharge on residential electric bills, or is added to the rate base.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Wind and Solar Wholesale Prices in NE</strong>: Here are some wholesale prices of wind electricity RE folks in New England, especially in Maine, do not want to talk about. They would rather dream RE fantasies, obfuscate/fudge the numbers, and aim to convert others to their dream scenarios, somewhat like religious missionaries. See table 2.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Comments on table 2:</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Indirect subsidies </strong>are due to loan interest deduction and depreciation deductions from taxable incomes.</p>
<p><strong>Direct subsidies </strong>are due to up front grants, waiving of state sales taxes, and/or local property (municipal and school) taxes. See URL.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/excessive-subsidies-for-2200-kw-field-mounted-solar-system-in" target="_blank">http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/excessive-subsidies-for-2200-kw-field-mounted-solar-system-in</a></p>
<p> </p>
<table>
<tbody><tr><td><p>Table 7</p>
</td>
<td><p>Direct/Indirect subsidies</p>
</td>
<td><p>Cost shifting</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right;">NE Wind</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right;">NE Solar</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><p> </p>
</td>
<td><p> </p>
</td>
<td><p> </p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right;">Ridgeline</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right;">Field-mounted</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><p> </p>
</td>
<td><p> </p>
</td>
<td><p> </p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right;">c/kWh</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right;">c/kWh</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><p>Owner price to utility</p>
</td>
<td><p>No</p>
</td>
<td><p>No</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right;"><span> </span> 17 - 19</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right;">22 - 26</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><p>Owner price to utility</p>
</td>
<td><p>No</p>
</td>
<td><p>Yes</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right;"><span> </span>15 - 17</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right;">20 - 24</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr><td><p>Owner price to utility</p>
</td>
<td><p>Yes</p>
</td>
<td><p>Yes</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right;"><span> </span>8.5 - 9</p>
</td>
<td><p style="text-align: right;">10.5 - 12.5</p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table> With the RFP scam drying up i…tag:www.windtaskforce.org,2019-05-10:4401701:Comment:1673792019-05-10T21:40:15.897ZRichard McDonald/Saving Mainehttps://www.windtaskforce.org/profile/richardmcdonald
<p>With the RFP scam drying up in southern NE, developers will be more than happy to get on the GovWindMills bandwagon for more, more more. The RI RFP bidder selection will be telling.</p>
<p>With the RFP scam drying up in southern NE, developers will be more than happy to get on the GovWindMills bandwagon for more, more more. The RI RFP bidder selection will be telling.</p> Raising the RPS is merely an…tag:www.windtaskforce.org,2019-05-10:4401701:Comment:1672672019-05-10T21:28:46.634ZWillem Posthttps://www.windtaskforce.org/profile/WillemPost942
<p>Raising the RPS is merely an excuse and green light for multi millionaires to do more destruction of Maine’s pristine ridge lines to put in marginal wind turbines that would have low capacity factors because of mediocre winds</p>
<p>Look out the window. Most of the time it is overcast, little to minimal wind, and some rain, for days on end.</p>
<p>If Maine builds out solar and wind, what would provide electricity during such wind/solar lulls? Batteries? You must be kidding.</p>
<p>Solar is…</p>
<p>Raising the RPS is merely an excuse and green light for multi millionaires to do more destruction of Maine’s pristine ridge lines to put in marginal wind turbines that would have low capacity factors because of mediocre winds</p>
<p>Look out the window. Most of the time it is overcast, little to minimal wind, and some rain, for days on end.</p>
<p>If Maine builds out solar and wind, what would provide electricity during such wind/solar lulls? Batteries? You must be kidding.</p>
<p>Solar is minimal or zero for 70% of the hours of the year. It is completely useless on a stand alone basis.</p>
<p>Wind is minimal or near zero for 30% of the hours of the year. It is completely useless on a stand alone basis.</p>
<p>Both highly subsidized electricity sources would need as crutches the other generators, especially hydro and gas turbines, to help out to make their electricity useful. </p>
<p>Does anyone have the naive notion these generator plant owners, will be doing the ramping up and down, at part load (very inefficient), producing less electricity, in an expensive manner, for free? Whom is THAT cost going to be charged to? Joe and Jane Worker? For sure not to the owners of wind and solar; they are well connected and have lobbyists to whisper into the ears of legislators and key bureaucrats.</p> Good luck with convincing Gov…tag:www.windtaskforce.org,2019-05-10:4401701:Comment:1674692019-05-10T20:26:33.357ZRichard McDonald/Saving Mainehttps://www.windtaskforce.org/profile/richardmcdonald
<p>Good luck with convincing Gov. WindMills, Seth Berry, Jeremy Payne and others in the renewable cabal from moving quickly to raise the RPS. The Climate Council has their rubber stamp ready to go. </p>
<p>Good luck with convincing Gov. WindMills, Seth Berry, Jeremy Payne and others in the renewable cabal from moving quickly to raise the RPS. The Climate Council has their rubber stamp ready to go. </p>