Federal report raises offshore wind concerns, Mills administrations says Maine project is ‘much different’
PORTLAND, Maine —
The U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report Tuesday raising questions about the creation of offshore wind energy.
Issues raised by the GAO, a nonpartisan federal agency that provides information to Congress, stem from the Jones Act which requires certain commercial ships to be built and registered in the U.S.
The Mills administration says concerns raised in the report are not as applicable to a project planned off Maine’s coast as they are to other planned installations.
In November, Gov. Mills announced plans to build a first of its kind wind farm for research in the Gulf of Maine.
“The GAO study focused on vessels that install turbines that are fixed to the sea bottom, which are planned for other states. The state of Maine’s planned research array will use floating wind turbine technology, which requires much different construction and installation processes and vessels,” said Dan Burgess, Director of the Governor’s Energy Office.
The Mills administration said the array would likely be 20 to 40 miles offshore in an area that allows for connection to the mainland electric grid with minimal impact on Maine fisheries.
The report cites industry stakeholders who told the GAO there are no Jones Act-compliant vessels capable of doing the job.
The GAO says proposed solutions involve the construction of new vessels that comply with the Jones Act which could, ultimately, be a costly endeavor.
“Stakeholders said that obtaining investments in Jones Act-compliant WTIVs—which may cost up to $500 million—has been challenging, in part due to uncertainty about the timing of federal approval for projects,” the report stated.
The Mills administration said last month they plan to file an application with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management which has to sign off Maine’s planned array.
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Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
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(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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