Long Islander's Blog (2,994)

A legislative committee on Tuesday unanimously voted against a bill aimed at forcing the University of Maine to move a pair of demonstration floating wind turbines farther from the coast of Monhegan Island, keeping the project alive.

http://bangordailynews.com/2017/05/10/energy/bill-to-move-umaine-offshore-wind-project-dies-in-committee/

PPH…

Angela Monroe, the acting director of the Governor’s Energy Office testified last week that the governor no longer supports the university’s current project. She cited the above-market prices for the electricity that would be borne by ratepayers against the unknown benefits that might or might not ever accrue.…

In the role, Hobbins would lead an office of attorneys and staff to represent low-income, residential and small business utility customers in cases that come before the Maine Public Utilities Commission.…

Oracle of Omaha or Parasite of the Public Trough?

The investment for the Rattlesnake project came from MidAmerican Wind Tax Equity Holdings, a subsidiary of Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and US lender Citi..............

Halligan said Goldwind "safe-harboured" 1GW of equipment in the US before the end of 2016.

This means the company has firm orders for at least 5% of the 1GW and has contracts for options to buy the…

Subsidies, subterfuge and subjugation on a legendary island.

The bait-and-switch scheme that Maine Aqua Ventus, under the cover of the University of Maine, has pulled on the people of Monhegan is a disgrace.

More here:…

Select must read testimony, which discusses the bill's negatives is highlighted in red below. Simply click on a person's name to read their written testimony.

Thursday, May 4, 2017 1:00 PM,Cross Building, Room 211

Disclaimer: The following documents are digital reproductions of written testimony presented to joint standing committees before and during public hearings. The Legislature is not responsible for the content, accuracy, or appropriateness of any testimony posted…

The proposed rules set a standard of 42 decibels during the day and 35 at night.

They would also establish setback standards of 10 times the turbine height, so a 500-foot turbine, for example, would have to be 5,000 feet from the nearest residence or property line.

Stephen Ambrose, a sound expert who spoke at a PSB technical workshop in Montpelier, said the proposed standards surprised a lot of people when they were released.

"I've been working at this almost six years,…

Since 1997 the numbers of eagle carcasses from wind energy has grown every year. As of 2016 more than 35,000 eagles have been shipped to the National Eagle Repository near Denver. In 1997 when America had just 1/35th of the installed wind energy we have today, wind energy was already listed as one of the primary sources of the repository’s eagle carcasses.

More here:…

Committee On Energy, Utilities and Technology

First Wind is the gift that keeps on giving - this time via their spin off company Deepwater Wind. Note that their CEO, Jeffrey Grybowski, was chief of staff for Rhode Island's governor.

Three miles off the coast of Block Island, R.I., the wind farm is currently generating enough electricity to power 2,000 homes, but building the five turbines costed $300 million. That’s roughly $150,000 per household just to build the turbines, not to…

Please attend if you can and if you cannot, please tune in.

This wind cheer leading piece, which sounds as though it came from a wind developer's PR firm, starts off with the line "There are no oil wells in Maine." That should tell you a lot of what's to follow given that we make virtually zero electricity from oil and electricity is all that wind power makes, however paltry. The wind pushing then goes on to imply that wind is inexpensive electricity:…

“You can try to buy advice, you can try to buy trawl surveys, you can try to buy scientific data,” he said. “I would suggest . . . that you don’t necessarily listen to somebody that was hired by them,” he told the trustees. “Listen to the people doing the job, somebody actually out trawling, running around that bay, trying to catch fish, and trying to make a living.”…

Prospective neighbors of wind turbines heard all the promises:  “Quiet as a library.”  “Like a baby’s breath.”  “The same decibel level as a refrigerator.”  The more brazen wind developers claimed “you will not hear them.” Then the four hundred and fifty foot wind towers with their bus-size nacelles and three-bladed fans were built. Sixteen in Sheffield, four on Georgia Mountain, twenty-one in Lowell.  And  neighbors learned the truth.  Yes, you can hear them.  They sound like “a jet…

Next Thursday, a bill that would fully preserve the financial incentive known as net-energy billing, or net metering, is due for a hearing. That bill also would give rebates to homes and businesses to encourage more solar installations. It’s likely to be the most contentious solar proposal to come before lawmakers this spring. Environmental groups are planning a noon rally outside the Cross Office Building prior to the hearing.…

Monhegan residents are preparing for a heated showdown in Augusta next week over a contentious bill that would effectively cancel a proposed offshore wind test project to be sited approximately 2.5 miles to the south of the island. The bill LD 1262, sponsored by Sen. Dana Dow (R-Lincoln Cty.), would prohibit the placement of wind turbines within 10 nautical miles of the Monhegan Lobster Conservation Area.…

A controversial wind turbine project is again on hold after opponents filed motions asking a state committee to rehear and reconsider its approval of the facility last year. The main argument in the three motions, each filed during the past month and a half, is that the N.H. Site Evaluation Committee broke its own rules to approve the nine-turbine installation.…

Please attend and tune in if you cannot attend.

Link: …

Perhaps the Press Herald should look beyond a single "piece of the puzzle" and heed the Maine Tourism Association's recent warning that wind projects threaten the tremendous Maine economic driver, tourism.

It’s well known that Maine’s high cost of energy is a drag on our economy, but the growth of the state’s renewable power sector is also a valuable export. These are issues that should not be studied with…

“In order to facilitate the financing of clean energy generation resources, every distribution company shall jointly and competitively solicit proposals for clean energy generation and, provided that reasonable proposals have been received, shall enter into cost-effective long-term contracts for clean energy generation for an annual amount of electricity equal to approximately 9,450,000 megawatt-hours… by December 31, 2022.” [Section 83D]…