July 12, 2019

The Maine Public Utilities Commission (Commission) unanimously approved a long-term contract for a 72.6 MW wind power project in Hancock County Maine. The project is being developed by Weaver Wind, LLC, a subsidiary of Longroad Development Partners, LLC and is expected to be operational no later than December 2020.

"This 20-year contract should create real ratepayer benefits for Maine" stated Commission Chairman Philip Bartlett. The…

ONE OF THE ORIGINAL ARCHITECTS of the declining price cap on offshore wind solicitations is now calling on the Baker administration to scale it back.

Robert Rio, senior vice president and counsel at Associated Industries of Massachusetts, one of the state’s leading business groups, sent a letter to the Baker administration on July 5 urging modification of the price cap, which requires each successive offshore wind procurement to be priced lower than the last.

The unusually low…

Some of the more important articles in this issue are:

Study: The Levelized Cost of Electricity from Existing Generation Resources

Report: Cost Shifting is the Name of the Game for Wind & Solar

Report: How Resources are Selected and Prices Set in Wholesale Electricity Markets

Disentangling the Renewable Energy Scam

Resources for Making the Case against Carbon Taxes

Why Climate Activists Threaten Endangered Species With…

Bicoastal perhaps, but hardly bipartisan, although it's being marketed as such.

Collins, Carper Introduce Bill to Spur Investments in Offshore Wind

Bipartisan legislation would extend investment tax credits to support the emerging offshore wind energy industry…

The researchers calculated that under the current climate conditions, Earth’s land could support 4.4 billion hectares of continuous tree cover. That is 1.6 billion more than the currently existing 2.8 billion hectares. Of these 1.6 billion hectares, 0.9 billion hectares fulfill the criterion of not being used by hu-mans. This means that there is currently an area of the size of the US available for tree restoration. Once mature, these new forests could store…

The New England high voltage grid provides electricity throughout New England. There are several hundred electricity-generating plants directly connected to the grid via substations. In 2018, the total output of these plants was 103,702 GWh, about 84% of the total supply to the NE grid. The rest of the supply was 21,409 GWh via 3 connections to nearby grids. See URL.…

July 1, 2019

Disentangling the Renewable Energy Scam

By Norman Rogers

The solar energy industry is telling its pals in Congress that it is willing the lose most of its subsidies. The current subsidy for solar is 30% of the construction cost. To that subsidy, an additional 10% subsidy is available due to special fast depreciation for solar energy plants. The 30% subsidy is scheduled to ramp down to 10% by 2022 and thereafter remain at 10%. This is not a consequence of…

Well . . . we have been saying it over and over but now the Aussies have finally confirmed all the reasons we should hang up our "Renewable Energy Industries" at once. Of course with the "Green New Deal" and insane liberals being elected to office, there is little hope that this will end before we bankrupt our system and all our citizens. Germany is also in trouble with their renewable plan and it is costing them a fortune.…

What this seems to say is "if we took more money from you then we were supposed to, it looks like we'll have to give it back". Is there a way we can nominate Baldacci for a magnanimity award? Perhaps the biggest story here is that it took five years for the Maine media to reveal that Baldacci joined the Avangrid board back in 2014.

Note also that since 2012, Baldacci has been with Portland law firm…

Regarding wind and solar, cost shifting is rarely mentioned, identified or quantified. Those costs, c/kWh, could be quantified, but it is politically expedient, using various, often far-fetched reasons, to charge them:

- Directly to ratepayers, via electric rate schedules, and/or added taxes, fees and surcharges on electric bills

- Directly to taxpayers, such as…

June 29, 2019

By Vijay Jayaraj

Wind energy is infinite, clean, a friend of climate, and the future of our energy sector. That is the green gospel we hear from renewable-obsessed environmentalists and politicians every day.

If wind energy is what they claim it is, why are the economic powerhouses of the world increasingly turning toward fossil fuels and nuclear, not toward wind? If wind is affordable and efficient, as they claim, why does it need subsidies to…

Hundreds of blue-collar workers assembled at the Oregon state capitol Thursday, protesting a climate change bill they believe would cripple their respective industries.

Farmers, loggers, ranchers and truckers rallied in Salem to protest HB2020, a cap & trade bill which they fear would cut jobs and increase fuel prices.

The bill was first challenged earlier this month by Republican lawmakers, who defied the state’s Democrat Governor Kate Brown by walking out…

When you click on the below link you'll see in the top picture a gathering of interested parties at the RPS/Climate change bill-signing.

That's Beth O'Hearn (teal dress) from League of Conservation Voters, which is the overarching organization for the Airhead Enviro Cabal (LCV, NRCM, Sierra, Audubon, Environment Maine, et al).  Over her shoulder in Maroon/white is Katelyn Bernard, the lobbyist for the Appalachian Mountain Club, which for a few years had…

By Michelle Froese | June 26, 2019

Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) and others have introduced the Renewable Electricity Standard Act of 2019 — a bill that would more than double the supply of renewable energy in the U.S. from 18% of electricity generation in 2018 to at least 50% by 2035.

Starting in 2020, the Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) would require electricity providers across the country to increase their supply of renewable energy, from sources such as wind and solar…

By Lori Valigra, BDN Staff • June 26, 2019 1:34 pm

Updated: June 26, 2019 1:55 pm

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities has approved power purchase agreements that are key to the proposed $1 billion hydropower transmission line through western Maine.

Hydro-Quebec, which is a partner with Central Maine Power on the proposed line, said Wednesday that the regulator had approved the agreements signed between Hydro-Quebec and Massachusetts electric distribution…

By Bill Nemitz 6/26/19

Few things brighten up a dismal situation like the phrase “I know a guy.”’

It implies that, as intractable as a problem may be, having a contact on the inside just might help, if not resolve it altogether.

Take for example Central Maine Power Co.’s disastrous roll-out of its new $56 million billing system,…

6/23/19 - By Tux TurkelStaff Writer

The promise was that smart meters would give home customers real-time information on electricity costs, so they could shift power use to when it’s less expensive. Dry your clothes at 10 p.m. and save a few cents. To encourage that outcome, taxpayers chipped in $96 million to install smart meters.

But what few people understood at the time was that the potential couldn’t be realized until CMP upgraded its…