Cross Building, Room 211

A quick read of this announcement from the U.S. Department of Energy's ARPA-E agency may indicate a condemnation of current approaches to floating wind turbines and a decision to proceed by researching radically different design concepts.

Friday, February 1, 2019

Department of Energy Announces up to $28 Million for Offshore Wind Energy…

Is this Maine's Future ?  So it has been stated by Mills.....WSJ- 2/05/19

...............He said a top CMP official called him late Friday to say that a new offer was on the table that is aimed at appeasing stakeholders, including Public Advocate Barry Hobbins.

“Including education, community development, broadband,” he said. “Barry Hobbins is going to get his money for the low-income…

"Any definition of renewable energy must also exclude all combustion-based power generation, nuclear, biomass energy, large scale hydro"

See the list of the 626 signatories at the following weblink:…

The above photo is Beijing, not Maine. Our air is clean and incredibly cleaner than 50 years ago. So is most of America's air. For those worried about global warming, rather than decorating Maine with foolhardy wind farms which have virtually no effect on CO2 emissions, they should be advocating that we all buy American whenever we can. This is…

The Climate Industrial Complex is a $1.5 trillion per year scam industry of no value to mankind — or indeed the planet — whatsoever.

Its business model is built almost entirely on government credulousness.

Barely a wind turbine would be erected, barely a shimmery solar panel allowed to disfigure the landscape, barely a palm oil plantation planted, barely a bushel of biomass burned, barely a dubious university climate science department funded, barely a first-class airfare to…

"..... CMP’s proposed transmission line would actually harm Maine ratepayers by causing significant negative impacts to Maine’s renewable energy industry," 

The rewrite of this article was prompted by an EIA report titled:

Utility-Scale Battery Storage Costs Decreased Nearly 70% Between 2015 and 2018.

The graph shows average values and ranges.

The graph shows the minimum cost trending towards $500/kWh, and the maximum cost trending towards $1000/kWh, within about 5 years. See notes.

The values are for custom-engineered, site-specific, utility-scale battery systems, i.e., greater than 2…

Effort seen as way to get shale gas to Northeastern states 

The Trump administration is considering taking steps to limit the ability of states to block interstate gas pipelines and other energy projects, according to three people familiar with the deliberations.

The effort, possibly done through an executive order, is aimed chiefly at states in the Northeast U.S., where opposition to pipeline…

"More destructive than a major war on U.S. soil" is how Mr. Carlson describes what would be the effects of replacing fossil fuel and nuclear power with wind and solar in 12 years, as called for in the "Green New Deal", a plan being embraced these days by at least some of our supposed representatives on Capitol Hill.

Watch…

Hyper-localism and enviro-ideology have blocked construction of several needed natural gas pipelines into the region in the past decade, leaving it the only part of the country that has constrained supplies of natural gas.

There are some signs that New England’s governors are finally willing to do something about this. If so, voters should support their efforts to change, because the status quo means depending on perpetually mild winter weather.

While the winter so far…

PG&E wants the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco to rule whether the company must honor $42 billion worth of contracts with about 350 different energy suppliers, mostly solar and wind plants.

The court’s decision could have a major impact on California’s renewable energy industry and power makeup. Many green energy suppliers only do business with PG&E, California’s largest utility. Shedding those contracts would likely drive those companies under and cripple California’s…

Ultimately, the burden of proving that Maine needs the line falls on CMP, which is also responsible for making sure regulators have all the information they need to make a decision on the project, said former Maine Public Utilities Commission Chairman Kurt Adams..............Instead of asking Hydro-Quebec questions directly, participants in both Maine and Massachusetts regulatory proceedings have had to direct questions…

The plan by Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, would require Central Maine Power and Emera Maine to sell all of their transmission and distribution assets to the proposed Maine Power Delivery Authority. Bill supporters said the authority would use low-interest revenue bonds to make the multi-billion dollar purchase, allowing the new consumer-owned utility to provide electricity to most Maine residents at lower rates than those charged by the two investor-owned utilities.

Read the…

From Wikipedia. Note ownership by the government of China.

January 25, 2019

CTG launched a bid to take control of EDP, of which it already owns 23 percent, in May last year, but the transaction has moved at a slow pace.

Sources say CTG has yet to complete regulatory filings in Europe and the United States, although…

The bills being considered in the Maine Legislature this session are but a foreshadow of what"s coming 

[Note: Although this story is about certain Massachusetts towns, the same thing is likely happening around the country.] 

Cranston isn’t the only Rhode Island community concerned about the impacts of siting wind turbines close to neighborhoods. Some residents of Coventry have complained of shadow flicker and noise from the 10 414-foot-tall turbines in their rural village of Greene. They say the utility-scale facility isn’t consistent with the town’s comprehensive plan and has dramatically changed the village’s long-established characteristics.…