One of the Many Devious Maine Policies That Increases Rates Every Year for Years to Come

by Dan McKay

yesterday

RECs are bought by Maine electric customers and are included with the supply portion of their bill, and there is no opt-out choice.

The suppliers are obligated to purchase RECs to comply with the Maine Renewable Energy Standards. 

The Renewable Energy Standards provide renewable energy projects huge profits by allowing them to sell RECs to suppliers who, in turn, include these costs in supply rates, such as the Standard Offer Provider and CEPs (Competitive Energy Providers such as "Electricity Maine")

The Renewable Energy Standards raises the amount of renewable energy that suppliers must purchase every year until 2040 when the amount will have to represent 100% of Maine's supply needs. 

So, you can see as the REC amount rises every year, the corresponding rates must rise every year.

No one knows what happens after 2040, but everyone knows that Maine will never have 100% renewable energy as the sole source of electricity in Maine's power lines.

Maine has and will be paying dearly for useless paper certificates for who knows how long. 

If someone sold you a product that has no value like RECs, you would rightfully consider it a crime.

BTW, a $60 per Megawatt-hour REC is 6 cents per kilowatt-hour plus at retail prices.

Maine residential customers purchase about 4.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year  

  • Willem Post

    The battery storage cost for wind and solar is much higher, because:

    1) the batteries must not be charged above 80% and not be discharged below 20%, meaning only 60% of capacity is available on a daily basis.
    2) the battery system ages at about 1.5% per year, meaning any available capacity decreases
    3) the turnkey capital cost is closer to $600/installed kWh delivered as AC at outlet of backend electronics.
    4) the battery system plus auxiliaries has an A to Z throughput loss of at least 20%
    5) the battery system life is about 15 years, meaning all costs must be amortized over that period
    6) a solar system lasts at most 30 years, meaning you need two battery system to cover its life

    Now you know why Europe, with a lot of expensive, short-live, wind, solar and battery systems, is no longer viable, because its energy costs/kWh are about 2.5 times higher than the US, plus it is spending more on defense, plus it has to deal with tens of millions of Islamic destroyers of European traditional cultures

    BATTERY SYSTEM CAPITAL COSTS, OPERATING COSTS, ENERGY LOSSES, AND AGING
    https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/battery-system-capital...

    by Willem Post

    . 

    Utility-scale, battery system pricing usually not made public, but for this system it was.

    Neoen, in western Australia, turned on its 219 MW/ 877 MWh Tesla Megapack battery, the largest in western Australia.

    Ultimately, a 560 MW/2,240 MWh battery system, $1,100,000,000/2,240,000 kWh = $491/kWh, delivered as AC, late 2024 pricing. Smaller capacity systems cost much more than $500/kWh

    .

    Annual Cost of Megapack Battery Systems; 2023 pricing
    Assume 45.3 MW/181.9 MWh; turnkey cost $104.5 million; 104,500,000/181,900 = $574/kWh,  per Example 2
    Amortize bank loan, 50% of $104.5 million, at 6.5%/y for 15 years, $5.484 million/y
    Pay Owner return, 50% of $104.5 million, at 10%/y for 15 years, $6.765 million/y (10% due to high inflation)
    Lifetime (Bank + Owner) payments 15 x (5.484 + 6.765) = $183.7 million
    Assume battery daily usage, 15 years at 10%; loss factor = 1 / (0.9 *0.9)
    Battery lifetime output = 15 y x 365 d/y x 181.9 MWh x 0.1, usage x 1000 kWh/MWh = 99,590,250 kWh to HV grid; 122,950,926 kWh from HV grid; 233,606,676 kWh loss
    (Bank + Owner) payments, $183.7 million / 99,590,250 kWh = 184.5 c/kWh
    Less 50% subsidies (tax credits, 5-y depreciation, loan interest deduction, etc.) is 92.3c/kWh

    Subsidies shift costs from project Owners to ratepayers, taxpayers, government debt. 
    .

    Excluded costs/kWh: 1) O&M; 2) system aging, 1.5%/y, 3) loss factor 1 / (0.9*0.9), HV grid-to-HV grid, 4) grid extension/reinforcement to connect battery systems, 5) downtime of parts of the system, 6) decommissioning in year 15, i.e., disassembly, reprocessing, storing at hazardous waste sites. Excluded costs would add at least 15 c/kWh
     

    COMMENTS ON CALCULATION

    Almost all existing battery systems operate at less than 10%, see top URL, i.e., new systems would operate at about 92.4 + 15 = 107.4 c/kWh. They are used to stabilize the grid, i.e., frequency control and counteracting up/down W/S outputs. If 40% throughput, 23.1 + 15 = 38.1 c/kWh. 

    That is on top of the cost/kWh of the electricity taken from the HV grid to charge the batteries

    Up to 40% could occur by absorbing midday solar peaks and discharging during late-afternoon/early-evening, in sunny California and other such states. The more solar systems, the greater the midday peaks.

    See top URL for Megapacks required for a one-day wind lull in New England

    40% throughput is close to Tesla’s recommendation of 60% maximum throughput, i.e., not charge above 80% and not discharge below 20%, to perform 24/7/365 service for 15 y, with normal aging.

    Owners of battery systems with fires, likely charged above 80% and discharged below 20% to maximize profits.

    Tesla’s recommendation was not heeded by the Owners of the Hornsdale Power Reserve in Australia. They excessively charged/discharged the system. After a few years, they added Megapacks to offset rapid aging of the original system, and added more Megapacks to increase the rating of the expanded system.

    http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-hornsdale-power-reserve-largest-battery-system-in-australia

    Regarding any project, Banks and Owners have to be paid, no matter what. I amortized the Bank loan and Owner’s investment

    Divide total payments over 15 years by the throughput during 15 years, to get c/kWh, as shown.

    Loss factor = 1 / (0.9 *0.9), from HV grid to 1) step-down transformer, 2) front-end power electronics, 3) into battery, 4) out of battery, 5) back-end power electronics, 6) step-up transformer, to HV grid, i.e., draw about 50 units from HV grid to deliver about 40 units to HV grid. That gets worse with aging.

    A lot of people do not like these c/kWh numbers, because they have been misled by self-serving folks, that “battery Nirvana is just around the corner”.

    .

    NOTE: EV battery packs cost about $135/kWh, before it is installed in the car. Such packs are good for 6 to 8 years, used about 2 h/d, at an average speed of 30 mph. Utility battery systems are used 24/7/365 for 15 years

    .

    NOTE: Aerial photos of large-scale battery systems with many Megapacks, show many items of equipment, other than the Tesla supply, such as step-down/step-up transformers, switchgear, connections to the grid, land, access roads, fencing, security, site lighting, i.e., the cost of the Tesla supply is only one part of the battery system cost at a site.

    .

    NOTE: Battery system turnkey capital costs and electricity storage costs likely will be much higher in 2023 and future years, than in 2021 and earlier years, due to: 1) increased inflation rates, 2) increased interest rates, 3) supply chain disruptions, which delay projects and increase costs, 4) increased energy prices, such as of oil, gas, coal, electricity, etc., 5) increased materials prices, such as of tungsten, cobalt, lithium, copper, manganese, etc., 6) increased labor rates.

    5 hours ago