Hello Mark Bergeron, Is the “reduction” in electrical rates a law? the WIND developers need to prove? 1 1Site Location of Development Bureau of Land and Water Quality REVISED: September 9, 2013 No…
Hello Mark Bergeron,
Is the “reduction” in electrical rates a law? the WIND developers need to prove? 1
1Site Location of Development
Bureau of Land and Water Quality REVISED: September 9, 2013 No. DEPLW0313-L2012
Section 28. Tangible Benefits. The applicant must provide a plan for establishing the environmental and economic improvements or benefits to the citizens of Maine attributable to the construction, operation and maintenance of the proposed wind energy development. The plan shall include, but is not limited to, the following: where the Board is directly responsible for protecting the public health, we conclude that the Board cannot ignore its own findings related to public health in deciding whether the project is harmful to the public.
D. The reduction in electrical rates among all classes of Maine ratepayers, directly attributable to and expected from the proposed wind energy project;
Alice –
The change to the tangible benefits section in the application that you refer to, where it requires that an applicant tell the Department about “the reduction in electrical rates among all classes of Maine ratepayers, directly attributable to and expected from the proposed wind energy project”, is a requirement that they give us information. There is no minimum standard that they have to meet, it is an effort on our part to understand more about how the project will (or won’t) affect the average person in the state. It is not anything that we are going to require for an application that is already in the system.
I hope that answers the question you intended to ask. The text in your email seems to be kind of jumbled up with pieces of other emails in the middle of things.
Thank you
Erle Townsend
Environmental Specialist - Division of Land Resource Regulation
Department of Environmental Protection
17 State House Station | Augusta ME 04333
Views: 168
Comment
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Comment by Kathy Sherman on November 5, 2013 at 1:04am
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Is Number Nine Mountain considered "in the system"? What about projects already rejected once? Are the projects under review with Mass DPU, other than Oakfield, i.e., any not permitted "in the system". Do developers of wind projects in Maine argue "price suppression" by displacement of more expensive fuel sources? I heard reference tonight to an ISO-NE study that found ratepayer savings based on avoided costs. In this case it was that ISO-NE projections are that 16 MW photovoltaic generation would result in $38 million in avoided costs. I do think the southern New England states should put there money into distributed solar, rather than pretending to import generation from Maine, but I do not think any analysis can come up with ratepayer savings with SRECs in Mass at 30-55¢/kWh. The cost suppression argument has been made for wind too, but that was based on the wind blowing on Nantucket Sound one July day with historic peak demand. No data from Maine or Ontario suggest that performance of land-based wind energy in summer comes anywhere close to ISO-NE projections of capacity (Cape Wind and Deepwater Block Is. to a lesser extent, are sheltered by nearby land masses and likely to underperform too). Does anyone know what the output of Lowell would have been during July '13 heatwave if uncurtailed? Or is this cost reduction all due to the negative pricing that ISO-NE will now allow? Heaven help us all.
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Comment by alice mckay barnett on October 7, 2013 at 9:14am
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Below are a few observations I wish you could comment on.
Repeatedly the Cupraks quote legislature that wind energy development “makes a significant contribution to the general welfare of the citizens of the State.”2
2Index of /dep/ftp/WindPowerProjectFiles/Passadumkeag/Appeal
Title 35-A M.R.S. & 3454 instructs the primary siting authority (in this case DEP) that it "shall presume that an expedited wind energy development provides energy and emissions-related benefits described in Section 3402." Section 3402 states:" The Legislature finds that the development of the wind energy potential in the State needs to be integrated into the existing energy supply and transmission systems in a way that achieves system reliability, total capital cost-effectiveness and optimum short-term and long term benefits to MAINE People.
The Supreme Court Judges deemed BEP’s job is to protect the health of the citizens of the state of Maine.3
3. “where the Board is directly responsible for protecting the public health, we conclude that the Board cannot ignore its own findings related to public health in deciding whether the project is harmful to the public. “
(footnote 9) FMM et.al. vs BEP et.al. MAINE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT Reporter of Decisions Decision: 2013 ME 25 Docket: BEP-12-137 Argued: November 8, 2012 Decided: March 5, 2013
“It is unclear from the record how the Department and Board intend to enforce sound level limits for wind projects.” (footnote 8)
Thank You -amb
The mountains are alive with color today. Enjoy.
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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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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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