BDN - Shades of the "Expedited Wind Law" - shady and totalitarian; representatives backstabbing the people
The good folks in central Maine are still wrongheadedly saying they recognize a need for "clean energy" in Maine. With all due respect, it sounds as though they are perilously early in the learning curve and would be wise to get more informed ASAP.
8/23/23
Letter: "Our ‘backyards’ should not be shared without our permission"
Carole L. Getchell lives with her husband in Corinth. They own property that potentially abuts the proposed transmission line corridor.
In October 2022, the Maine Public Utilities Commission approved a bid from LS Power Grid Maine (a subsidiary of Missouri-based LS Power), to develop and construct a new 140 to 160 mile 345-kilovolt transmission line. It had also approved an Aroostook County wind farm ( King Pine Wind Maine, LLC, a subsidiary of Boston-based Longroad Energy). The new power line will connect wind energy to the ISO NE grid. The proposed wind farm, of over 170 turbines, will be located on 4,500 acres west of Houlton, making it the largest onshore wind project east of the Mississippi River. Net cost of both projects is a projected $1.8 billion. Maine agreed to purchase 60% of energy and Massachusetts up to 40 percent.
On June 13, the Maine Legislature passed LD 924. “Resolve, to Provide Legislative Approval of the Transmission Project Selected by the Public Utilities Commission Pursuant to the Northern Maine Renewable Energy Development Program.” The House vote was 80 for, 61 against, 9 absent; Senate vote: 24 for, 9 against, 2 excused. Some legislators cautiously voted against LD 924 because they had no idea where the route may be located. Gov. Janet Mills signed LD 924 on June 22.
June 22 was also the postmark date on the envelope my husband and I received from LS Power Grid Maine, which contained a potential corridor map with alternative routes. The letter stated: “The Project may impact property that you own depending on the route chosen.” Letters were sent to around 3,500 residents. Nineteen days later, very detailed corridor maps and property boundaries were published on-line and on their open house boards.
Many property owners and abutters felt blindsided, and were stunned, and angry. Why wasn’t the corridor route made public prior to Legislative voting to allow comments from interested parties, stakeholders, and towns? I think the legislators who voted for LD 924 and Gov. Mills, who signed the bill, were extremely disrespectful to Maine taxpayers whose property and livelihood are at stake. How many legislators have property directly impacted by the new corridor? Yes, final route approval is still needed by many agencies, including the Maine PUC, but the burden is now on corridor land owners and abutters to speak out. Rubberstamping appears too easy.
A Daymark Energy Advisors study (paid for by the project’s companies) states an average monthly residential energy bill savings by these projects would be around $2.33 a month. Would a reasonable person relinquish land use and/or their livelihood for this?
Easements will potentially be paid at current “fair market value.” What’s “fair” when the corridor bisects dairy and agricultural farms (decimating livelihoods), hay fields, woodlands, house lots, and etc.? Many properties have been in families for generations. For many, their property may be all they have. What’s “fair” about potential herbicides on a 150-foot right-of-way? What’s “fair” about an easement payment that doesn’t compensate for significantly devalued property with little future use, or compensate for property sale at pre-easement value..........................
................Most of us agree we need to make clean energy a reality in Maine but we need to take a few steps back and work together for a fair and equitable plan. Maine’s “Northern Maine Renewable Energy Development Program” says the Public Utilities Commission shall give preference to proposals that: “Favor use, where practicable, of existing utility and other rights-of-way and other existing transmission corridors in the construction of the line or lines described in this subsection.” Are other corridors and rights-of-way available to minimize geographic and economic impact?
And yes, we stakeholder taxpayers and voters do care about what happens in our Maine “backyards” when lawmakers serve it up to LS Power Grid Maine without asking us first.
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/08/22/opinion/our-backyards-no...
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Comment
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Comment by Willem Post on August 27, 2023 at 4:12pm
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BATTERY SYSTEM CAPITAL COSTS, OPERATING COSTS, ENERGY LOSSES, AND AGING
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/battery-system-capital...
Grid-scale Battery System Owning and Operating Cost for Solar Bulge Control
Battery systems perform various functions during a day, including absorbing the heavily subsidized, midday solar output bulge, and discharging about 81% of it during the peak hours of late-afternoon/early-evening; the other 19% are system losses. See Part 4
Assume, in the morning, the batteries are charge at about 20% full, so they can absorb the bulge to about 80% full.
On many days, there is enough bulge to charge the batteries
In New England, panels are often covered with snow and ice in winter.
On days, with little or no bulge, the batteries are charged with low-cost, night-time electricity
Assumptions for Analysis
- Bank loan 50%; Owner stake 50%.
State governments require investors to have a 50% stake in projects, i.e., “have skin in the game”
- Li-ion systems at $500/kWh for 2023. See Part 1
- Capacity factor of 0.6
- Bank loan, 6%/y for 15 years
- Owner's return on investment, 9%/y for 15 years
- Cost of government subsidies at 50% of total costs
- System loss at 19%, HV AC to HV AC basis. See Parts 2 and 3
- System aging at 1.5%/y is ignored. See Part 7
The 0.30 c/kWh of throughput is significantly understated, because it is based on a very high CF = 0.6, and excludes the cost of system aging
All project costs are paid by ratepayers, taxpayers, and added to government debts.
http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/cost-shifting-is-the-na...
NOTE: Utilities of grid-scale battery systems have the real owning/operating numbers, which they do not make public, because they are “proprietary”
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Capacity, 1.0 MW/4.0 MWh
2022 pricing
2022 li-ion pricing, $/kWh
500
Capital cost, excludes aging, $
2000000
Rating, kWh
4000
Subsidies
50%
Cycles/d
365
Owner financing at 9%/y for 15 y
50%
CF
0.6
Bank financing at 6%/y for 15 y
50%
From HV grid, kWh/y as AC
1081481
Return to Owner, $/y
121712
In battery, kWh/y as DC
973333
Payment to Bank, $/y
101263
To HV grid, kWh/y as AC
876000
Total payments, $/y
222975
System losses, kWh/y
205481
Other costs; O&M, insurance, etc, $/y
40000
Total costs, $/y
262975
Total costs, $/y
262975
Cost, c/kWh of throughput
0.300
Paid to Owner by: c/kWh Government, as subsidies, $/y
131488
0.150
Utility rate payers, $/y
131488
0.150
Total, $/y
262295
0.300
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The reason all Maine Legislators and various committees are not releasing cost/kWh numbers, is because they are screwing Mainers, big-time, behind closed doors, and using the lapdog Media to defend their actions
If the truth we were told, none of them would be re-elected, and they know it, so they take “extreme measures”
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Comment by Dan McKay on August 27, 2023 at 9:05am
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The impact of wind on wholesale prices is no better evidenced than by the costs to keep a natural gas-fired plant from shutting its doors. The supplemental payments to Mystic Generating Station are to maintain reliability within the New England grid, and become part of New England ratepayer's bills.
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Willem,
Good description of "Stranded Costs"
Power Purchase Agreements aka "the utilities are forced to buy it" have been sucking money from ratepayers of Maine since Rollins Wind in Lincoln, Maine pulled off the scam nearly a decade ago.
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Owners of ON SHORE wind systems sell all their electricity at ABOVE WHOLESALE MARKET PRICES to utilities, at about 10 c/kWh, because of high inflation, high interest costs, higher costs of labor and materials.
The utilities are forced to buy it, by law
Future owners of FLOATING wind systems wil sell their electricity in the same manner, but at a higher price
The utilities add that expensive wind electricity to their mix of other sources, including their self-generated electricity, to come with an average cost of purchased electricity
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First of all, the passage of LD 924 and the Governor's signature is about as corrupt an action a government can partake in. They voted by emotion and ignorance. Every one of these legislators should be "turfed out" of office.
While the PUC had the power purchase term sheet in hand, they never would disclose the numbers. They used shady math to claim a savings to ratepayers.
The Daymark Study:
"The Daymark study, commissioned by LS Power Grid Maine and King Pine Wind Maine, concluded that the transmission line project and wind project together will lower wholesale electricity prices and provide significant cost savings for Maine consumers and businesses. "
Wind projects never, ever lower wholesale prices. They are price takers. The wholesale price is based on the marginal price ( or the price offer, among multitudes of offers, that allocates the exact amount of energy that matches demand, usually offered in hourly allotments.)
As wind developers often, shamelessly point out, natural gas sets the marginal price and every generator, including wind, receives this marginal price. This is called the "Clearinghouse Price.' When natural gas prices are high as will happen during global demand problems or during peak hours of electrical demand, wind claims fossil fuels are the culprits of soaring electricity costs, all the while receiving the same high wholesale price. They also get stuck with lower wholesale prices when natural gas can offer lower prices that is much lower than wind can operate at (WHICH IS USUALLY THE CASE) This is why wind wants the State of Maine ( i.e. Maine ratepayers) to prepurchase their output and have the State of Maine (ratepayers) resell the output into the wholesale market. The normal price difference favors wind and disfavors Maine ratepayers who underwrite the transaction.
Interestingly, the PUC and Daymark conducted their math when natural gas prices spiked during the global turmoil, and resales of PROPOSED WIND OFFERS were lower than wholesale prices.
The truth is the high price of NG at the time was a rare outlier and wholesale prices set by NG is far lower than the price offered by King Pine and the ratepayers pay what the PUC calls "Stranded Costs."
Of course, the PUC has never disclosed the King Pine offer. Another corrupted agency kowtowing to a corrupt legislature and governor.
But this has always been the motive behind renewables. Make the ratepayers the slaves to government.
I salute every citizen that expresses their disgust with this project. No way should it be allowed to move any further AND the PUC, the Legislature (Especially Troy Jackson) and the Governor must be held accountable for misdirecting the people of Maine.
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Bury the lines asap
That way they are invisible
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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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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