Comment Opportunity - Big Wind Wakes from Hibernation

Here they go again. Just when you thought Big Wind had thrown in the towel (in Maine). 

Just when you thought they can no longer compete.

Just when everybody and his uncle is making more sensible energy decisions. 

Big Wind is Back in Maine.

Despite their insidious lobbying efforts, Big Wind's PTC got left out of the Covid-19 stimulus package. Electricity prices are at historic lows. New England States have been choosing nuclear, big hydro, and offshore wind to meet their clean energy mandates. There's a glut of electricity generation collecting capacity payments instead of generating electricity. But the last legislature extended the Renewable Portfolio mandate, essentially ordering the PUC to sign contracts that force us ratepayers to buy unnessecarry, unaffordable, unsustainable electricity so that Maine can stop climate change.

Maine's electricity is among the cleanest in the nation. It is a grain of sand on the beach of climate change. Heating and transportation emit 90% of Maine's CO2, while electricity emits 8%. Maine's ENTIRE electricity sector emits just over 1 million metric tons into a global atmosphere that gets 36,000 million metric tons of CO2. That means Maine owns a 4/10,000ths of one percent share, so Maine is under intense pressure to save the world, right? 

Now comes Number Nine Wind "Farm."  Looking for special treatment (surprised?).

All the Aroostook countryside north of Baxter Park -- from Route 1 westward through the Allagash and the St. John valley to the Canadian border at Daquaam -- it's all being targeted by Big Wind. Again. 

Number Nine is a 600 to 800 megawatt project that would essentially blow away Aroostook County. it's between 10 and 20 Mars Hills. Number Nine has languished in failure for several years for two reasons:

1. It cannot compete, as evidenced by its many failed bids into various RFPs in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
2. A transmission “gap” of about 50 miles exisits between the Aroostook grid and the ISO-New England grid. An expensive power line upgrade or “bridge” would be needed from Aroostook down to the Lincoln area. 
Now MREA and the would-be developers of Number Nine are asking the PUC to do them a favor so that the PTC can be exploited and so that the critical mass of Number Nine (an obscene 600 to 800 MW just north of Baxter Park and just east of the Allagash) can gain an advantage. There could be even more wind developers hiding in Aroostook’s shadows.  They are touting jobs, of course. Every Aroostook legislator was asked (paid) by MREA's Jerry Paine to sign a letter of support, and they dutifully did. 
If you want to get really upset, you can peruse the filings tab and the comments tab submitted by various parties asking the PUC to bend the rules so that Maine can get more wind. The Brookfield and Friends of Maine's Mountains comments are particularly poignant. But as you will see, most all the submissions are in favor. Click here   

To submit your own comment, click here and when prompted, enter case number 2020-00104.

You can comment in the provided dialogue box, or if your comment is more than 250 words, you can attach a PDF document. Phil Bartlett, one of the Wind Act’s architects, is now Chairman of the PUC. This is a chance to upbraid him for the heinous and brainless thing he did to Maine, as well as a chance for him to redeem himself. 
Make no mistake, the PUC is being told by the legislature to increase the RPS. The PUC could do that using existing resources, and maybe even procuring offshore wind, But they are now being asked by the Wind Lobby to stretch the rules for Big Wind generally, and for Number Nine specifically.
Comment strongly and loudly, wind warriors. Maine is done with Big Wind. Lesson learned. No more special treatment.

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Comment by Art Brigades on April 10, 2020 at 9:42pm

Seriously, folks.  Read the submissions fro EDP, Longroads, et al. They are trying to ruin Maine.

https://mpuc-cms.maine.gov/CQM.Public.WebUI/Common/CaseMaster.aspx?...

Comment by arthur qwenk on April 10, 2020 at 8:15pm

Number 9, brought to  Maine by the same people  that brought us   "The Wuhan Flu".

Comment by Art Brigades on April 10, 2020 at 2:46pm

As LI has always said, if wind projects are the heist, transmission is the getaway car. Please write to the PUC. Click on those file links and do it everyone. (BTW, Chrome works better than Safari on the PUC system.) 

Comment by Willem Post on April 10, 2020 at 11:23am

Art,

That is a very good write up.

Comment by Long Islander on April 9, 2020 at 4:52pm

EDP Number Nine Wind Farm / China Global Investment Tracker

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/edp-number-nine-wind-fa...

U.S. Sen Angus King

THE UNTOLD STORY OF RECORD HILL WIND

The Untold Story of Record Hill Wind, continued

 

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

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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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