April 2019 Blog Posts (52)

It's just over there!

Most people, including myself, really have no clear idea regarding the various subsidies required to attract capital for the build-outs of solar systems. Relatively few insiders, such as some legislators, the Vermont Department of Public Service and the Vermont Public Utilities Commission, likely are intimately familiar with all the detailed ins and outs.

The Vermont Public Utilities Commission administers the Vermont Standard Offer Program that promotes and subsidizes the…

Members of the public got the chance to weigh in on a proposed wind project that would be located in Hancock County Thursday night.

The Department of Environmental Protection hosted the meeting in Aurora at the Airline Community School.

The Weaver Wind Project would build 22 turbines at a cost of 145 million dollars.

The…

1,300 Mainers owning electric cars translates to 0.097% of the state's 1,338,404 population, as in "less than 1/10th of one percent or less than one in a thousand."

Just over 1,300 Mainers owned electric cars in 2018, which is more than twice as many as in 2014, according to a recent survey conducted by the Natural Resources Council of…

“We’ve been discussing a whole range of options, from a new wind turbine to solar.”

With the insurance investigation recently completed regarding the fire that occurred last year in the wind turbine, officials with the University of Maine at Presque Isle are exploring a new alternative energy project that will generate the same level of electricity.

The insurance investigation confirmed that the April 2018 fire in the nacelle of the wind turbine was…

Looks like a scene from the Twilight Zone as these two unsuspecting victims, innocently pose in front of what will become..........a living hell.…

PV Solar Output Variability During variable Cloudy Weather

Clouds are the main reason PV solar generation experiences intermittency (excluding the normal night-time disappearance).

PV solar generation can rapidly decrease by 60% within seconds, due to a cloud passing over the solar panels causing a reduction in solar insolation.

The time taken for the cloud to pass is dependent upon cloud height, sun elevation and wind speed. These factors need…

by Maine Examiner 04/17/2019

AUGUSTA – The Maine Legislature will stop accepting citizen testimony via email as of April 22, 2019 according to a notice posted on the Legislature’s website on April 16^th.

Instead, the Legislative Information Office says all testimony will have to be submitted through a form…

The bill under consideration is L.D. 1139 and is sponsored by Rep. Norm Higgins, (I – Dover-Foxcroft). It has eight cosponsors, seven of whom are Democrats, and one Independent.

Representative Kent Ackley (I – Monmouth)

Senator Shenna Bellows of (D – Kennebec)

Representative Matthea Daughtry of (D – Brunswick)

Representative Ryan Fecteau of ( D – Biddeford)

Representative Brian Hubbell of (D – Bar Harbor)…

Today, and for years to come, the only feasible and affordable way to provide the on-demand backstop for variable, unpredictable wind and solar energy is to operate power plants fueled by natural gas. Across New England, we rely most days on natural gas for 60 percent or more of our electricity – and these are the plants that can cycle up their output in seconds to fill in for wind and solar that suddenly go missing. Sixty seconds of critical power that costs millions to charge up and tap in…

The applicant is the old gang from First Wind. 100% of visitors thought the project would have no effect or a positive effect on their likelihood to visit the pond in the future according to their survey.

The Department of Environmental Protection will hold a second public…

https://stopthesethings.com/2019/04/14/flat-broke-busted-german-wind-turbine-maker-senvions-spectacular-financial-collapse/ …

Bryce chastised the “scant” media coverage of the growing resistance to renewable energy projects, which is especially important given Democrats push for sweeping plans, like the Green New Deal, to significantly ramp up renewable energy use.

“By contrast, national media coverage of the growing backlash against deployment of large-scale renewable-energy projects has been scant,” Bryce said. “That lack of media coverage is particularly true when it comes to controversies about…

HALLOWELL — Maine’s Public Utilities Commission voted Thursday to grant a key certificate to Central Maine Power’s controversial, 145-mile transmission line through western Maine.

Via 3-0 vote, PUC commissioners effectively endorsed a settlement agreement negotiated by several major parties in exchange for a variety of public benefits. That agreement was signed in March by Gov. Janet Mills, the Office of Public Advocate and others following an intense debate fueled by project…

Word has it that the creators of Maine's expedited wind law will soon be telling us why expediting is now bad. This is a good start. Now let's get some new natural gas pipeline into Maine so we needn't buy LNG from the Russians as they've done in Boston.

- President Donald Trump signed…

Excerpts:

There is ample reason that electricity will be the go-to energy for home heating and transportation in the future.

This change is coming fast due to the rapid drop in prices for renewable energy sources. Solar and wind power today are cheaper than any fossil fuel..................

Maine still has an over-reliance on heating oil. Fossil fuels are the old-fashioned and most expensive way to heat homes or water. Mainers have installed more than 30,000…

This article is appropriately timed as President Trump is on the cusp of issuing executive orders aimed at making it difficult for states to block gas pipelines.

To force a transition away from natural gas, New England policymakers have blocked construction of new gas pipelines. The Constitution Pipeline, a project to bring gas from the shale fields in Pennsylvania to the pipeline network in Schoharie County, NY, is one of many examples. This pipeline…

The Hornsdale Power Reserve, HPR, battery system, 100 MW/129 MWh, in Australia, was the largest battery in the world in 2017. It is located near a 315-MW, French-owned wind turbine plant.

In 2017, various capital costs of the system were mentioned. About 1.5 y later, documents revealed the turnkey capital cost was about 56 million euros, about US$ 66 million, or 66 million/129,000 =…

If battery storage is foolish in Florida, how foolish might it be in New England? It's a worthwhile question because more and more, we hear the "environmentalists" proclaiming that grid-scale battery storage is here. I wonder how many of these cheer leaders know anything about electricity.

Battery Foolishness in Florida

The…