Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine
Rep. Reagan Paul Requests That Maine DOE Assess True Hidden Costs of Green Energy Agenda
By Seamus Othot
May 12, 2026
Rep. Reagan Paul (R-Winterport) sent a letter to Maine’s Department of Energy (DOE) Deputy Secretary James Danly on Monday, asking the department to examine and publish the true costs of Maine’s green energy push.
“The persistent claim that wind and solar are the cheapest form of generation makes for an effective talking point, but it does not hold up when customers pay their bills. While utilities are often blamed for rising rates, it is in fact the underlying generation resource choices that are driving these cost increases,” said Paul’s letter.
According to Paul, the DOE energy cost assessments often quoted in policy fail to include a variety of expenses that lead to rising energy costs for Maine consumers.
These costs, often referred to as “system effects” include the costs of compensating for low effective capacity, increased maintenance costs, energy grid upgrades required by intermittent energy production, additional transmission infrastructure, and battery replacements.
While those costs have a very real impact for Maine ratepayers, they do not factor into data cited by left-wing lawmakers, who claim that green energy sources like solar and wind are cheap and effective.
“These are real costs showing up in your electric bill right now — often buried in ‘public policy’ charges, stranded costs, shifting accounting definitions, or spread across ratepayers so politicians can continue claiming wind and solar are ‘cheap,'” said Paul in a social media post.
Continue reading at https://www.themainewire.com/2026/05/rep-reagan-paul-requests-that-maine-doe-assess-true-hidden-costs-of-green-energy-agenda/
arthur qwenk
The increases in electrical costs to consumers are caused by one thing.
The Global Warming Narrative that begat the Unreliable Renewable Power Narrative and concomitant waste, uselessness and fraud in wind and solar low density power and transmission schemes Maine's politicians have adhered to for almost two decades now.
yesterday
Dan McKay
Over 2 billion dollars assessed to Maine electric bills since 2010 to eliminate carbon dioxide from the planet Earth. 2 billion dollars that went into the pockets of greedy people who recognized a good scam and didn't care how much people suffered with high energy bills. Time for reparations for this criminal actions.
yesterday
Willem Post
EXPENSIVE FLOATING OFFSHORE WINDMILLS IN IMPOVERISHED STATE OF MAINE
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/floating-offshore-wind...
By Willem Post
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Despite the meager floating offshore MW in the world, pro-wind politicians, bureaucrats, etc., aided and abetted by the lapdog Main Media and "academia/think tanks", in the impoverished State of Maine, continue to fantasize about building 850-ft-tall floating offshore windmills, each mounted on a 50% submerged, steel platform at least 250 ft x 250 ft x 75 ft tall to maintain the windmill in upright position in all conditions.
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Maine government bureaucrats, etc., in a world of their own climate-fighting fantasies, want to have about 3,000 MW of floating wind turbines by 2040; a most expensive, totally unrealistic goal, that would further impoverish the already-poor State of Maine for many decades.
Those bureaucrats, etc., would help fatten the lucrative, 20-y, tax-shelters of mostly out-of-state, multi-millionaire, wind-subsidy chasers, who likely have minimal regard for: 1) Impacts on the environment and the fishing and tourist industries of Maine, and 2) Already-overstressed, over-taxed, over-regulated Maine ratepayers and taxpayers, who are trying to make ends meet in a near-zero, real-growth economy.
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Those fishery-destroying, 850-ft-tall floaters, with 24/7/365 strobe lights, visible 30 miles from any shore, would cost at least $7,500/ installed kW, or at least $22.5 billion, if built in 2023 (more after 2023)
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Almost the entire supply of the Maine projects would be designed and made in Europe, then transported across the Atlantic Ocean, in European specialized ships, then unloaded at a new, $500-million Maine storage/pre-assembly/staging/barge-loading area, then barged to European specialized erection ships for erection of the floating turbines. The financing will be mostly by European pension funds.
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About 500 Maine people would have jobs during the erection phase
The other erection jobs would be by specialized European people, mostly on cranes and ships
About 200 Maine people would have long-term O&M jobs, using European spare parts, during the 20-y electricity production phase.
https://www.maine.gov/governor/mills/news/governor-mills-signs-bill...
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The Maine people have much greater burdens to look forward to for the next 20 years, courtesy of the Governor Mills incompetent, woke bureaucracy that has infested the state government
The Maine people need to finally wake up, and put an end to the climate scare-mongering, which aims to subjugate and further impoverish them, by voting the entire Democrat woke cabal out and replace it with rational Republicans in 2024
The present course leads to financial disaster for the impoverished State of Maine and its people.
The purposely-kept-ignorant Maine people do not deserve such maltreatment
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Electricity Cost
Assume a $750 million, 100 MW project consists of foundations, wind turbines, cabling to shore, and installation at $7,500/kW.
Production 100 MW x 8766 h/y x 0.40, CF = 350,640,000 kWh/y
Amortize bank loan for $375 million, 50% of project, at 6.0%/y for 20 years, 9.194 c/kWh.
Owner return on $375 million, 50% of project, at 10%/y for 20 years, 12.385 c/kWh
Banks and Owners get 21.579/36.579 = 59% of the project revenues
Offshore O&M, about 30 miles out to sea, 8 c/kWh.
Supply chain, special ships, and ocean transport, 3 c/kWh
All other items, 4 c/kWh
Total cost 9.194 + 12.385 + 8 + 3 + 4 = 36.579 c/kWh
Less 50% subsidies (ITC, 5-y depreciation, interest deduction on borrowed funds) 18.290 c/kWh
Owner sells to utility at 18.290 c/kWh
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Hidden Costs: At a future 30% W/S annual penetration on the grid, based on UK and German experience:
- Onshore grid expansion/reinforcement to connect far-flung W/S systems, about 2 c/kWh
- A fleet of traditional power plants to quickly counteract W/S variable output, on a less than minute-by-minute basis, 24/7/365, which means more Btu/kWh, more CO2/kWh, more cost of about 2 c/kWh
- A fleet of traditional power plants to provide electricity during 1) low-wind periods, 2) high-wind periods, when rotors are locked in place, and 3) low solar periods during mornings, evenings, at night, snow/ice on panels, which means more Btu/kWh, more CO2/kWh, more cost of about 2 c/kWh
- Pay W/S system Owners for electricity they could have produced, if no curtailment, about 1 c/kWh
- Importing electricity at high prices, when W/S output is low, 1 c/kWh
- Exporting electricity at low prices, when W/S output is high, 1 c/kWh
- Disassembly on land and at sea, reprocessing and storing at hazardous waste sites, about 2 c/kWh
Total ADDER 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 11 c/kWh
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Offshore wind full cost of electricity FCOE = 36.6 c/kWh + 11 c/kWh = 47.6 c/kWh, no subsidies
Offshore wind full cost of electricity FCOE = 18.3 c/kWh + 11 c/kWh = 29.3 c/kWh, 50% subsidies
The 11 c/kWh is for various measures required by wind, power plant-to-landfill basis.
This compares with 7 c/kWh + 3 c/kWh = 10 c/kWh from existing gas, coal, nuclear, large reservoir hydro plants.
Some values increase due to inflation and as more W/S systems are added to the grid.
Cabling to Shore Plus $Billions for Grid Expansion on Shore
A high voltage cable would be hanging from each unit, until it reaches bottom, say about 200 to 500 feet.
The cables would need some type of flexible support system
There would be about 5 cables, each connected to sixty, 10 MW wind turbines, making landfall on the Maine shore, for connection to 5 substations (each having a 600 MW capacity, requiring several acres of equipment), then to connect to the New England HV grid, which will need $billions for expansion/reinforcement to transmit electricity to load centers, mostly in southern New England.
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The whole set-up is s super-expensive nightmare, the extent of which has been clear in Germany for the past 10 years and the UK for the past 5 years.
Both have “achieved” near-zero, real- growth GDP, the highest electricity prices in Europe, and stagnant real wages.
The W/S variable output, or too-little output, or too-much output, creates operational difficulties that become increasingly more challenging and expensive to counteract.
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Maine Folks Need Lower Energy Bills, Not Higher Energy Bills
The over-taxed, over-regulated, impoverished Maine people would buckle under such a heavy burden, while trying to make ends meet in the near-zero, real-growth Maine economy.
18 hours ago