Dan McKay's Blog (843)

As the Wind Blows, the Jobs Go

   What to do with 613 megawatts of wind energy when the load demand within Maine is between 1000 to 1400 megawatts at any given time ?

   613 megawatts of wind energy represents all turbines in Maine running at 100% capacity. Although not a usual occurrence, it is between 40% to 60% of Maine's electric needs depending on the time of day.
   To accommodate 613 megawatts, do you shut down other generators offering their output ? Wind with price subsidy advantages can…
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Added by Dan McKay on January 20, 2016 at 9:46am — 7 Comments

NO DEAL IS BETTER THAN A BAD DEAL

The recent decision of the Maine PUC to re-examine two long term offers from proposed wind plants was vehemently opposed by Commissioner Littell.

    He wrote the following as part of his reasoning to support these offers and wind development, in general
    "The ability of wind supply to suppress market prices is well recognized by energy market experts and market operators including ISO-NE, PJM, and MISO which operate the grid in New England, the…
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Added by Dan McKay on April 3, 2015 at 9:57am — 1 Comment

Future Transmission Upgrades For Wind Will Need PUC Approval

2014 ISO-NE Regional System Report

"Integrating Intermittent Renewable Resources. A number of wind projects have interconnected to electrically remote and weak portions of the regional power system, and additional wind projects are proposed for these areas. These facilities pose operational and planning challenges due to issues with voltage and stability…

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Added by Dan McKay on March 26, 2015 at 9:21am — 8 Comments

Two Products, Two Contracts, Ratepayers Beware.

Could Maine Ratepayers end up paying wind plants in Maine the REC value obtained from contracts  involving other State RPS programs ? That would be quite perverse, but strange things happen when lawmakers screw around in the private sector.

    Maine ratepayers have endured many long term contracts for electrical energy that became so burdensome with  exorbitant  costs, the contracts were bought out, the generator shut down and compensatory payments to the generator becoming…
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Added by Dan McKay on March 24, 2015 at 9:47am — 3 Comments

Wind Timeline Costs

 As with any new market, changes take awhile, but the added costs from the new, Maine wind market are real and coming fast.
Wind Timeline Costs:
   1. ITC, federal program using tax-paid or more correctly, future tax-paid funds plus interest,  which grants a wind development company 30% of the costs of construction.
    2. Long term contracts with regional utilities lasting 15 to 20 years that sell energy output. This attracts investors, quelling fears of…
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Added by Dan McKay on March 22, 2015 at 10:39am — 3 Comments

Public Advocate : Ratepayer Funds to Benefit Ratepayers, Not Economic Development

   A bill the EUT committee held public hearing on; L.D. 273 An Act To Encourage and Enhance the Future of Waste-to-energy Facilities Resource Laws, describes a desire to make a new Renewable Class with associated renewable energy credits for waste to electricity producing plants. This new Class is looking to procure $10 per credit to start.
    Our Public Advocate, realizing such credits mean added costs on customer electric bills testified :
               " We take…
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Added by Dan McKay on March 20, 2015 at 5:55pm — 1 Comment

Augusta, We Need A Make-Over

    The State wants to make over the electric generating industry just 10 years from the last make-over and their reasoning is so the state will  be in a jobs available market.

    Realistically, the electric market serves customers best when certainty for many more years than ten years is offered them  The last make-over in generation occurred in 2000-2001 when 5 new natural gas plants came online in Maine, just after Maine Yankee retired and electric restructuring took…
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Added by Dan McKay on March 20, 2015 at 5:13pm — 3 Comments

The Maine Wind Plantation Marches Forward

http://www.maine.gov/dacf/lupc/reports/docs/rptReceivedAccepted.html

The six state Governors committee on energy has been given notice that 2500 megawatts of wind plant electricity is ready to take over the Maine landscape by 2016.

The three states of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island ( not a place for wind plants ) have issued a Request for Proposals for at least 1000 megawatts…

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Added by Dan McKay on March 9, 2015 at 10:41am — 4 Comments

It's Official, They Are Not Green In Maine

Check out photo and see where power and RECs are being sold for all these wind plants in Maine. Read this decision about Vermont wind plants from the FTC.

"The FTC ( Federal Trade Commission ) has instructed GMP ( Green Mountain Power ) officials to—“Carefully review (your) current and future communications to ensure that Vermont customers, and other market…

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Added by Dan McKay on March 8, 2015 at 8:43am — 13 Comments

RETIRE MAINE'S RENEWABLE PORTFOLIO STANDARD

Part of the testimony from the Maine PUC on LD 646, An Act To Remove the 100-megawatt Limit on Renewable Sources of Energy : LD 646 testimony [PDF]

"The Commission notes that expanding portfolio requirement eligibility requirements to large generating facilities is likely to have the effect of greatly increasing the…

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Added by Dan McKay on February 19, 2015 at 2:46pm — No Comments

What would Ed Muskie think of wind plants ?

A interesting read about the proposed Dickey-Lincoln dam project as it was debated in the U.S. Congress. I just can't see Mr. Muskie having much use for wind.

http://abacus.bates.edu/muskie-archives/ajcr/1967/Dickey.shtml

Added by Dan McKay on February 16, 2015 at 4:02pm — No Comments

Electric generation trends from natural gas-fired plants in Maine

  The top chart is net generation from Maine independent gas-fired power producers, such as the Westbrook ( Calpine ), Rumford (  Emera ) and Veazie ( Casco Bay Energy,…

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Added by Dan McKay on February 10, 2015 at 9:27am — No Comments

IS IT POSSIBLE FOR MAINE TO POWER UP WITHOUT NATURAL GAS ?

 Although we often hear how natural gas makes up 50% of electrical generation in Maine, EIA data reveals Maine's natural gas plants do not run anywhere near 100% of the time and, in fact, in-state hydro out-produced natural gas generation for 2013 and trends would indicate the same for…

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Added by Dan McKay on February 5, 2015 at 3:06pm — 13 Comments

4 Wind Projects 1 Biomass Project 0 Hydro Projects

Since 2008, the Maine PUC has approved 4 wind projects, 1 biomass project and 0 hydro projects for long term renewable energy contracts. This is getting old and is starting to smell akin to Alfond's abuse of power to aid wind during  the last legislative session.…

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Added by Dan McKay on February 4, 2015 at 11:18am — No Comments

Request for feasability study to connect a 600.6 Megawatt wind project in Aroostook County

Above is the ISO-NE interconnection requests for proposed generation. Number 470/471 is a First Wind project under the name of King Pine Wind, Phase 1 & 2. 

Calendar/Real Audio/ Maine PUC

January 20, 2015

Deliberations

10:00 AM

Date: January 20, 2015 Location: Worster Room Time: 10:00 AM 101 Second Street…
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Added by Dan McKay on January 19, 2015 at 9:30am — 5 Comments

Proposed MassDEP Clean Energy Standard (CES)

Proposed MassDEP Clean Energy Standard (CES)

Consistent with the Clean Energy and Climate Plan, and its requirement that Massachusetts achieve an 80 percent reduction in GHG emissions by 2050, MassDEP has proposed regulatory amendments that would implement a Clean Energy Standard (CES). A CES…

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Added by Dan McKay on January 15, 2015 at 12:13pm — No Comments

GREEN ENOUGH ALREADY ! REMOVE THE SUBSIDIES !

     Would anyone from the legislature be willing to offer a bill to direct the PUC to determine if there is presently enough qualified Maine Class 1 Renewable Energy Credits ( REC )  accumulated to satisfy the 2017 goal of 10% new renewable in the State's electric portfolio, assuming a 2% growth in electricity consumption from 2015 to 2017 ?  If such a scenario is presently available, then the Maine Renewable Portfolio Standard should be retired two years early and the Maine Class 1 REC…

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Added by Dan McKay on January 2, 2015 at 9:14am — 2 Comments

When it is known to be an economic disaster, but regulators look away.

   This graphic depicts the several wind projects in place or looking for approval to build in Maine. Power Purchase Agreements with out of state utilities have provided collateral for financing.

    DEP/BEP approval is essentially a given for these projects.

    The Maine PUC is aware of the transmission constraints  these projects will encounter in trying to…

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Added by Dan McKay on December 31, 2014 at 9:46am — 4 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/

Not yet a member?

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.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

 -- Mahatma Gandhi

"It's not whether you get knocked down: it's whether you get up."
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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