Willem Post's Blog – February 2017 Archive (16)

A VERY EXPENSIVE OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY FOLLY IN NEW ENGLAND

The Block Island Wind Farm, after many years of dithering, became operational in late 2016. It is located 3.8 miles east of Block Island, Rhode Island. It has five wind turbines, each with a capacity of 6 megawatt. Each turbine is about 589 feet tall.

 

The annual wind electricity production would be about 105,000 MWh/y, if the capacity factor were 0.40. 

The estimated useful service life would be about 20 years, based on about 20 years of European offshore…

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Added by Willem Post on February 27, 2017 at 9:00am — 7 Comments

MORE ENERGY FROM HYDRO-QUEBEC IS BEST FOR VERMONT AND NEW ENGLAND

Five years ago, Gov. Shumlin declared Vermont’s energy goal to be "90% renewable energy by 2050". The General Assembly has never enacted this declaration, but it did establish a Renewable Portfolio Standard, RPS, requiring 55% of retail electricity sales to be from renewable sources by 2017; 75% by 2032, per Act 56.

Renewable Portfolio Standards: Renewable portfolio standards require utilities to have a percentage of their electricity supply from renewable sources. Two…

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Added by Willem Post on February 26, 2017 at 12:30pm — 1 Comment

WIND ENERGY IS HIGHLY VARIABLE AND UNRELIABLE IN GERMANY

Germany had an installed capacity of 39,612 MW at the end of 2014. During 2014, the output varied from 29,687 MW (74.9% of capacity briefly during December) to 24 MW (0.06%). The average output was 5,868 MW (14.8% = the capacity factor). The production was 51,405.8 GWh.

 

Output was between 0 to 10% of capacity for 45.5% of the time (3986.75 h)

Output was in excess of 50% of capacity for 5.2% of the time (460.75 h)

 

A graph of wind output during 2014, does…

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Added by Willem Post on February 26, 2017 at 9:00am — 1 Comment

POPULAR MISCONCEPTIONS REGARDING ENERGY MIX

Electricity Mix Based on Power Purchase Agreements: There are non-technical people talking about the “Vermont electricity mix” or the “New Hampshire electricity mix”. That mix exists only on paper, because it is based on power purchase agreements, PPAs, between utilities and owners of electricity generators. A utility may claim it is 100% renewable. This means the utility has PPAs with owners of renewable generators, i.e. wind, solar, biomass, hydro, etc. That mix has…

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Added by Willem Post on February 25, 2017 at 9:30am — No Comments

VERMONT's $33 BILLION ENERGY TRANSFORMATION AND CARBON TAX

The Vermont Comprehensive Energy Plan, CEP, goal aims to “transform” the Vermont economy. It would require investments of about $33.3 billion, about $1 billion per year for 33 years, during the 2017 - 2050 period, per Vermont Energy Action Network 2015 Annual Report. The CEP could not be implemented without a very high carbon tax and other taxes, surcharges and fees of at least $970 million per year for 33 years.…

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Added by Willem Post on February 24, 2017 at 3:00pm — No Comments

IRELAND FUEL AND CO2 REDUCTIONS DUE TO WIND ENERGY LESS THAN CLAIMED

The variable outputs of heavily-subsidized wind and solar are totally unusable, could not be fed into the grid, without the presence of a fleet of quick-reacting power plants, such as CCGTs, to counteract to ups and downs of these outputs, on a less than minute-by-minute basis, 24/7/365, year after year.

 

The more wind and solar systems tied to the grid, the larger the fleet of…

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Added by Willem Post on February 23, 2017 at 10:30pm — No Comments

VERMONT’s 90% RENEWABLE ENERGY GOAL TO COST $33 BILLION BY 2050

Almost immediately after the funds of the American Recovery and Reconstruction Act, ARRA, became available, many states, including Vermont, distributed some of the funds to a number of government and private renewable energy entities. Government programs with federal and state subsidies were created to attract in-state and out-of-state investments in renewable energy projects to create jobs and boost the economy.

 

In Vermont, the media were enlisted to build up an image of…

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Added by Willem Post on February 18, 2017 at 6:00pm — No Comments

VERMONT RENEWABLE PORTFOLIO STANDARD FOR ELECTRICITY

The General Assembly enacted a Renewable Portfolio Standard, RPS, mandate requiring 55% of utility retail electricity supplies to be from renewable sources by 2017, and 75% by 2032, per Act 56. 

 

On a contracted and self-production basis, GMP’s RE was about 34.7 + 5.6 +18.1 = 58.4% of its retail electricity supplies in 2016, of which RECs were retained or sold. GMP’s electricity mix was about as follows:

 

Fiscal…

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Added by Willem Post on February 8, 2017 at 8:30am — No Comments

INCREASED CANADIAN HYDRO ENERGY TO GROW THE NEW ENGLAND ECONOMY

The main purpose of this article is to show a large quantity of hydro energy can be obtained from Canada at much less cost and environmental damage to the New England economy and environment than building out wind energy on ridgelines. In this article, I assumed the ISO-NE energy from wind would be either 100% on shore, or 50% offshore and 50% onshore.

 

Most New England coal, oil, and nuclear plants likely would be phased out over the next 20 - 30 years. Those 3 sources were…

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Added by Willem Post on February 8, 2017 at 8:30am — No Comments

ECONOMICS OF BATTERIES FOR STABILIZING AND STORAGE ON DISTRIBUTION GRIDS

ECONOMICS OF BATTERIES FOR STABILIZING AND STORAGE ON DISTRIBUTION GRIDS

 

It appears the world has ample fossil fuels for at least the next 100 years, even with a growing gross world product and population. A worldwide, full-scale transition away from fossil fuels likely would take at least 100 years. It would not be wise to subsidize the build-out of technologies that have very little potential to provide the world with abundant, low-cost…

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Added by Willem Post on February 6, 2017 at 10:00pm — No Comments

WIND TURBINE NOISE ADVERSELY IMPACTS NEARBY PEOPLE AND ANIMALS

In violation of the spirit of Act 250, VT has been shamelessly trashing its pristine ridge lines with 500-ft tall, environmentally destructive, noise-making, property-value-reducing, health-damaging industrial wind turbine power plants that produce unsteady, grid-disturbing, variable, intermittent (i.e., non-dispatchable) energy at a cost of about 10 c/kWh (with subsidies), and about 15 c/kWh (without subsidies); NE average wholesale prices have been about 4.5 – 5.0 c/kWh for the past 5…

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Added by Willem Post on February 6, 2017 at 10:30am — 2 Comments

WOOD-FOR-FUEL LOGGING INCREASES CO2 AND DAMAGES FOREST HEALTH

The Vermont Comprehensive Energy Plan (CEP) states a goal of 90% renewable energy of ALL energy by 2050, not just electrical energy, which is only 35% of all energy. The plan includes proposals to increase wood-for-fuel logging by 132% over 2014 levels. To set the stage, well-known pro-logging consultants performed various studies to determine wood-for-fuel quantities. The standard assumption in such studies is the CO2 from wood burning is not counted, because unfounded claims are made “it…

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Added by Willem Post on February 6, 2017 at 10:30am — No Comments

A COMPARISON OF WOOD CHIP AND OIL-FIRED POWER PLANTS

The Vermont media site, VTDigger, had a recent comment: “Just a single 25 megawatt (MW) wood chip plant could provide some 4 percent of Vermont’s consumption, 24/7/365, and would contribute to the Vermont economy in the form of jobs and money in circulation from the wages, taxes — wealth created in the state that stays in the state.”

Special Report: New Renewable…

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Added by Willem Post on February 6, 2017 at 10:30am — No Comments

GERMAN RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATION

Almost all modern electrical systems have three categories of generating plants: base-loaded, intermediate, and peaking. The base-loaded plants produce at least 65% of all energy, are run 24/7/365, and have the lowest unit energy cost, about $40 - $45/MWh, included are the “must-run” plants. The intermediate plants produce about 30% of all energy, are run as needed to satisfy the daily variations of demand, and have higher unit energy costs, about $55/MWh. The peaking plants produce the…

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Added by Willem Post on February 6, 2017 at 10:30am — 1 Comment

CO2 OF BURNING WOOD IS PARTIALLY ABSORBED OVER 40 -100 YEARS

East Europe and the US Southeast still have significant areas with forests. Starting about 2005, major parts of these forests have been harvested by means of clear-cutting. In 2016, about 6.5 million metric ton of wood pellets will be shipped from the US Southeast to Europe for co-firing in coal-fired power plants.

 

The EU has declared these coal plants in compliance with EU CO2/kWh…

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Added by Willem Post on February 6, 2017 at 10:30am — No Comments

ANALYSIS OF WIND/SOLAR ENERGY LULLS AND ENERGY STORAGE IN GERMANY

Germany has a goal to have almost all of its domestic electricity consumption from renewable sources by 2050. The Energiewende goals are:

 

Year

% RE of electricity

% RE of all primary energy consumption

2015

 30.8…

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Added by Willem Post on February 6, 2017 at 9:30am — No Comments

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Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Sign up today and lend your voice and presence to the steadily rising tide that will soon sweep the scourge of useless and wretched turbines from our beloved Maine countryside. For many of us, our little pieces of paradise have been hard won. Did the carpetbaggers think they could simply steal them from us?

We have the facts on our side. We have the truth on our side. All we need now is YOU.

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 -- Mahatma Gandhi

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Vince Lombardi 

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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