Maine rep: We need to focus on lower energy costs, not climate goals

November 21, 2023

John “Jack” E. Ducharme, III, R-Madison, serves District 71 in the Maine House of Representatives. He is the House Republican lead on the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee.

With the defeat of Pine Tree Power, a plan to apparently lower costs by spending as much as $13.5 billion to have elected bureaucrats run what is now Central Maine Power and Versant Power, it’s time to start looking at what is driving electricity costs. I could join the choir of clucking hens or I could offer solutions to help halt the continual increase in our electricity bills.

The first problem that needs fixed is the directive of the Public Utilities Commission. To put it simply, I believe we have set ourselves up for failure. Rather than focusing solely on affordability, the Legislature has put into law in the commission’s statement of purpose arbitrary greenhouse gas emissions reductions that govern policies and decision-making, likely increasing the cost of electricity for Maine ratepayers.

I introduced a bill last session that would remove the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the basic purpose of the state’s utility regulatory system. This would allow the utilities commission to focus on its original statutory directive: to ensure safe, reasonable and adequate service, and to assist in minimizing the cost of energy available to the state’s consumers.

Instead of concentrating on what is best for Mainers’ pocketbooks, the utilities commission now has the added focus on politically driven climate goals. Their means of “trying” to reach these climate goals has been subsidizing solar through policies like net energy billing or new rules to eventually make Mainers purchase electric cars and trucks. I fear these policies will raise rates, destroy our roads and they are just not practical for everyday Mainers. Never mind that they also will not have a large impact on global emissions.

Those costs are now being detailed in CMP bills, where they outline $8.12 a month in “non-CMP public policy” charges. These are not CMP charges. They’re not due to rising natural gas costs because of war or lack of investment. They are monthly costs added to Mainers’ electric bills to subsidize expensive renewable power and purchase above market rate power. These are essentially taxes imposed on people’s electricity without them likely even knowing about it. These charges have grown, and likely will continue to grow, as lawmakers, led by Democrats look to subsidize more Mainers unable to keep up with their bills. As long as enough people have the ability to pay inflated monthly electric costs, they can continue to subsidize the growing number who can’t.

These growing costs to ratepayers have been brought up by the state’s public advocate as well, whose responsibility is to represent the interests of Maine utility consumers. The Legislature’s response? Bills from Democrats to restrict the public advocate’s office or require that they too base their decisions on climate goals.

Next, the utilities commission should increase transparency by moving the ball on the actual cost and source of energy by making that information clear on everyone’s electric bill. Electricity suppliers in Maine should provide fact sheets to educate consumers about their electricity service. Ratepayers already receive a breakdown of a supplier’s power sources and air emissions. This disclosure should also include the cost of electricity from those power sources..................

Continue reading at https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/11/21/opinion/opinion-contribu...

 

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Comment by Willem Post on November 24, 2023 at 2:58pm

APPENDIX 1

Floating Offshore Wind Systems in the Impoverished State of Maine

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/floating-offshore-wind...

Offshore Wind Capacity Placed on Operation in 2021

World: During 2021, worldwide offshore wind capacity placed in operation was 17,398 MW, of which China 13,790 MW, and the rest of the world 3,608 MW, of which UK 1,855 MW; Vietnam 643 MW; Denmark 604 MW; Netherlands 402 MW; Taiwan 109 MW

Of the 17,398 MW, just 57.1 MW was floating, about 1/3%

At end of 2021, 50,623 MW was in operation, of which just 123.4 MW was floating, about 1/4%

https://www.energy.gov/eere/wind/articles/offshore-wind-market-repo...

NOTE: Despite the meager floating offshore MW in the world, pro-wind politicians, bureaucrats, etc., aided and abetted by the lapdog Media, in the impoverished State of Maine, continue to fantasize about building 3,000 MW of 850-ft-tall floating offshore wind turbines by 2040!!

Maine government bureaucrats, etc., in a world of their own climate-fighting fantasies, want to have about 3,000 MW of floating wind turbines by 2040; a most expensive, totally unrealistic goal, that would further impoverish the already-poor State of Maine for many decades.

Those bureaucrats, etc., would help fatten the lucrative, 20-y, tax-shelters of mostly out-of-state, multi-millionaire, wind-subsidy chasers, who likely have minimal regard for:

1) Impacts on the environment and the fishing and tourist industries of Maine, and

2) Already-overstressed, over-taxed, over-regulated Maine ratepayers and taxpayers, who are trying to make ends meet in a near-zero, real-growth economy.

Those fishery-destroying, 850-ft-tall floaters, with 24/7365 strobe lights, visible 30 miles from any shore, would cost at least $7,500/ installed kW, or at least $22.5 billion, if built in 2023 (more after 2023)

Almost the entire supply of the projects would be designed and made in Europe, then transported across the Atlantic Ocean, in specialized ships, also designed and made in Europe, then unloaded at the Maine pre-assembly/staging area, then barged to specialized erection ships, for erection of the floating turbines.

About 200 Maine people would have short-term erection jobs. About 30 Maine people would have long-term O&M jobs

They would produce electricity at about 40 c/kWh, without subsidies, about 20 c/kWh with subsidies, the wholesale price at which utilities would buy from Owners (higher prices after 2023)

https://www.maine.gov/governor/mills/news/governor-mills-signs-bill...

The Maine woke bureaucrats are falling over each other to prove their "greenness", offering $millions of this and that for free, but all their primping and preening efforts has resulted in no floating offshore bids from European developers

The Maine people have much greater burdens to look forward to for the next 20 years, courtesy of the Governor Mills incompetent, woke bureaucracy that has infested the state government 

The Maine people need to finally wake up, and put an end to all the climate scare-mongering, which aims to subjugate and further impoverish them, by voting the entire Democrat woke cabal out and replace it with rational Republicans in 2024

The present course leads to financial disaster for the impoverished State of Maine and its people.

The purposely-kept-ignorant Maine people do not deserve such maltreatment

NOTE: The above prices compare with the average New England wholesale price of about 5 c/kWh, during the 2009 - 2022 period, 13 years, courtesy of:

 

Natural gas-fueled CCGT plants, with low-cost, low-CO2, very-low particulate/kWh

Nuclear plants, with low-cost, near-zero CO2, zero particulate/kWh

Hydro plants, with low-cost, near-zero-CO2, zero particulate/kWh

APPENDIX 2

Russia building more nuclear reactors than any other country, IAEA data show

MOSCOW, November 13, 2023

According to the IAEA, a total of 412 nuclear reactors are in operation at power plants across the world, with their total capacity at about 370.2 gigawatts

Russia is building more nuclear reactors that any other country in the world, according to data from the Power Reactor Information System of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The data show a total of 58 large-scale nuclear power reactors are currently under construction worldwide, of which 23 are being built by Russia. A plant may have up to 4 reactors, usually 1100 MW each

Rosatom is doing the most construction of international nuclear power units.

In Egypt, 4 reactors, each 1,200 MW = 4,800 MW for $30 billion is about $6,250/kW, which includes financing by Egypt $5 billion and by Russia $25 billion
That cost is at least 40% less then US/UK/EU

In Turkey, 4 reactors, each 1,200 MW = 4,800 MW for $20 billion is about $4,200/kW, entirely financed by Russia. The plant will be owned and operated by Rosatom

It is interesting, Rosatom's direct competitors, according to PRIS data, are three Chinese companies: CNNC, CSPI and CGN.

They are building 22 reactors, but it should be noted that they are being built primarily inside China, and the Chinese partners are building five of them together with Rosatom.

If we talk about the Americans and Europeans, they are lagging behind by a wide margin,” Alexander Uvarov, a director at the Atom-info Center and editor-in-chief at the atominfo.ru website, told TASS.

APPENDIX 3

Floating Offshore Wind in Norway

Equinor, a Norwegian company, just put in operation 11 Hywind, floating offshore wind turbines, each 8 MW, for a total of 88 MW, in the North Sea. The wind turbines are supplied by Siemens

Production will be about 88 x 8766 x 0.5, claimed lifetime capacity factor = 385,704 MWh/y, which is about 35% of the electricity used by 2 Norwegian oil rigs.

The existing diesel and gas-turbine generators on the rigs, will provide the other 65%.

The generators will counteract the up/down output of the wind turbines, on a less than minute-by-minute basis, 24/7/365

The generators will provide almost all the electricity during low-wind periods, and during high-wind periods, when rotors are feathered and locked.

The capital cost of the entire project was about 8 billion Norwegian Kroner, or about $750 million, as of August 2023, when all 11 units were placed in operation.

That cost was much higher than the estimated 5 billion NOK in 2019, i.e., 60% higher

The production cost likely will be about 46 c/kWh, without subsidies, about 23 c/kWh, with subsidies.

In Norway, all work associated with oil rigs is very expensive.

Workers are on the rigs for 6 weeks, and get 6 weeks off, and are paid well over $150,000/y, plus benefits.

Floating Offshore Wind in Maine

If such floating units were used in Maine, the production costs would be even higher in Maine, because of the additional cost of transport, of almost the entire supply, including specialized ships, across the Atlantic Ocean

A high voltage cable would be hanging from each unit, until it reaches bottom, say about 500 to 1000 feet. The cables would need some type of flexible support system
All the cables would be combined into one cable to run horizontally to shore, for at least 25 to 30 miles

Rich Norway people can afford to dabble in such expensive demonstration follies, but the over-taxed, over-regulated, impoverished Maine people would buckle under such a heavy burden, while trying to make ends meet in the near-zero, real-growth Maine economy.

Maine folks need lower energy bills, not higher energy bills.

APPENDIX 4

Offshore Wind

Most folks, seeing only part of the picture, say things that only partially cover the offshore wind situation, which caused major declines in Siemens, Oersted, etc., stock prices, starting at the end of 2020; the smart money got out
All this well before the Ukraine events, which started in February 2022. See offshore wind costs/kWh in article

World’s Largest Offshore Wind System Developer Abandons Two Major US Projects as Wind/Solar Bust Continues 
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/world-s-largest-offsho...

US/UK Governments Offshore Wind Goals

1) 30,000 MW of offshore by 2030, by the posse of extremists in the US government 
2) 36,000 MW of offshore by 2030, and 40,000 MW by 2040, by the disconnected-from-markets UK government

Those US/UK goals were physically unachievable, even if there were abundant, low-cost financing, and low inflation, and low-cost energy, materials, labor, and a robust, smooth-running supply chain, to place in service about 9500 MW of offshore during each of the next 7 years, from start 2024 to end 2030, which has never been done before in such a short time. See article
 
US/UK 66,000 MW OF OFFSHORE WIND BY 2030; AN EXPENSIVE FANTASY  
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/biden-30-000-mw-of-off...

NOTE: During an interview, a commentator was reported to say” “renewables are not always reliable” 
That shows the types of ignorami driving the bus
WIND AND SOLAR ARE NEVER, EVER RELIABLE

Levelized Cost of Energy by US-EIA

The wind/solar/battery bubble is in meltdown mode. This is not a surprise, because the US-EIA makes LCOE “evaluations” of W/S/B systems that purposely exclude major LCOE items, to make them look politically competitive with fossil fuels.

1) Subsidies equivalent to about 50% of project owning and operations cost,
2) Grid extension/reinforcement to connect remote W/S to load centers
3) A fleet of quick-reacting power plants to counteract the W/S up/down output, on a less-than-minute-by-minute basis, 24/7/365, 
4) A fleet of power plants to provide electricity during low-W/S periods, and during high-W/S periods, when rotors are feathered and locked,
5) Output curtailments to prevent overloading the grid, i.e., paying owners for not producing what they could have produced

NOTE: W/S variable outputs could not be physically fed into the grid, without the last 4 items, of which the LCOEs are provided for free by taxpayers, ratepayers, or added to government debts

Batteries Far From an Economic Alternative to Power Plant Fleets

Turnkey capital costs of large scale-battery systems are $575/installed kWh; based on 2023 pricing of Tesla-based systems. See article

BATTERY SYSTEM CAPITAL COSTS, OPERATING COSTS, ENERGY LOSSES, AND AGING
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/battery-system-capital...

With 6.5% money on a 50% bank loan, and 10% for owner return on a 50% investment, and 19% HV grid to HV grid loss, and 15-y life.

At 10% throughput, the delivered electricity cost is about 183.8 c/kWh, without 50% subsidies, about 91.9 c/kWh with 50% subsidies, on top of the 6 c/kWh cost of the electricity from the HV grid to charge the batteries

At 40% throughput, about 23 c/kWh, on top of the 6 c/kWh

Excluded costs/kWh: 1) O&M; 2) system aging, 3) HV grid to HV grid loss, 3) grid extension/reinforcement to connect the battery systems, 5) downtime of parts of the system, 6) decommissioning in year 15, i.e., disassembly, reprocessing and storing at hazardous waste sites.
 
NOTE: The 40% throughput is close to Tesla’s recommendation of 60% maximum throughput, i.e., not charging above 80% and not discharging below 20%, to achieve a 15-y life, with normal aging

NOTE: Tesla’s recommendation was not heeded by the owners of the Hornsdale Power Reserve. They added Megapacks to offset rapid aging of the original system, and added more Megapacks to increase the rating of the expanded system.

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-hornsdale-power-res...

THE PHYSICAL AND ECONOMIC FUTILITY OF W/S/B HAS BEEN CLEAR TO ENERGY SYSTEMS ANALYSTS AND ENGINEERS SINCE ABOUT 2000

APPENDIX 5

Solar Implosion: SolarEdge Melts Down After Weak Guidance 

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/wind-solar-implosion-s...

The Great Green Crash – Solar Down 40%

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/11/08/the-great-green-crash-solar-...

World's Largest Offshore Wind System Developer Abandons Two Major US Projects as Wind/Solar Bust Continues 

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/world-s-largest-offsho...

US/UK 66,000 MW OF OFFSHORE WIND BY 2030; AN EXPENSIVE FANTASY  

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/biden-30-000-mw-of-off...

BATTERY SYSTEM CAPITAL COSTS, OPERATING COSTS, ENERGY LOSSES, AND AGING

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/battery-system-capital...

Regulatory Rebuff Blow to Offshore Wind Projects; Had Asked for Additional $25.35 billion

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/regulatory-rebuff-blow...

Offshore Wind is an Economic and Environmental Catastrophe

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/offshore-wind-is-an-ec...

Four NY offshore projects ask for almost 50% price rise

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/four-ny-offshore-proje...

EV Owners Facing Soaring Insurance Costs in the US and UK

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/ev-owners-facing-soari...

U.S. Offshore Wind Plans Are Utterly Collapsing

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/u-s-offshore-wind-plan...

Values Of Used EVs Plummet, As Dealers Stuck With Unsold Cars

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/values-of-used-evs-plu...

Electric vehicles catch fire after being exposed to saltwater from Hurricane Idalia

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/electric-vehicles-catc...

The Electric Car Debacle Shows the Top-Down Economics of Net Zero Don’t Add Up

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/the-electric-car-debac...

Lifetime Performance of World’s First Offshore Wind System in the North Sea 

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/lifetime-performance-o...

Solar Panels Are Much More Carbon-Intensive Than Experts are Willing to Admit

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/solar-panels-are-more-...

IRENA, a Renewables Proponent, Ignores the Actual Cost Data for Offshore Wind Systems in the UK
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/irena-a-european-renew...

UK Offshore Wind Projects Threaten to Pull Out of Uneconomical Contracts, unless Subsidies are Increased

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/uk-offshore-wind-proje...

CO2 IS A LIFE GAS; NO CO2 = NO FLORA AND NO FAUNA

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/co2-is-a-life-gas-no-c...

AIR SOURCE HEAT PUMPS DO NOT ECONOMICALLY DISPLACE FOSSIL FUEL BTUs IN COLD CLIMATES

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/air-source-heat-pumps-...

.

IRELAND FUEL AND CO2 REDUCTIONS DUE TO WIND ENERGY LESS THAN CLAIMED    

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/fuel-and-co2-reduction...

APPENDIX 6

LIFE WITHOUT OIL?

Life without oil means many products that are made with oil, such as the hundreds listed below, would need to be provided by wind and solar and hydro, which can be done theoretically, but only at enormous cost.

Folks, including Biden's handlers, wanting to get rid of fossil fuels, such as crude oil, better start doing some rethinking.

The above also applies to natural gas, which is much preferred by many industries, such as glass making, and the chemical and drug industries.

If you do not have abundant, low-cost energy, you cannot have modern industrial economies.

Without Crude Oil, there can be no Electricity.

Every experienced engineer knows, almost all the parts of wind, solar and battery systems, for electricity generation and storage, from mining materials to manufacturing parts, to installation and commissioning, in addition to the infrastructures that produce materials, parts, specialized ships, etc., are made from the oil derivatives manufactured from raw crude oil.

There is no escaping of this reality, except in green lalaland.

.

Comment by Dan McKay on November 21, 2023 at 3:41pm

Representative Jack Ducharme is acutely aware that energy politics is costing the people of Maine a fortune. He understands stranded costs associated with net energy billing and long-term contracts mandated by policy to incentivize wind and solar are rapidly rising as up to date spreadsheets from CMP and Versant are sent to the PUC monthly along with future estimates of additional projects and costs.$$$$$$$

But does Jack, one of the few people's advocates in the legislature, also know Maine people pay a carbon tax on electricity generation by way of a program called RGGI which makes natural gas generators pay by the ton of CO2 emitted during production, which at more times than the only plants compensating for a solar and/or wind development which is failing to produce? This program double whammies electric customers by reducing annually the amount of CO2 allowed to come from natural gas plants while demand increases and prices as well. $$$$$$

Does Jack know that we pay for renewable energy credits, a premium paid to wind and solar developments in addition to the price of the physical attributes of good. old, plain electricity? So, double up on the double whammy ratepayers are forced to pay, because "Policy" is to increase the purchase of wind and solar RECS as all the lesser expensive biomass RECs have been used up, and now Maine must compete with Southern New England to prove to be "Green" in the REC market. $$$$$$$$$

And does Jack know that the Maine Governor has, along with other New England Governors, signed on to a big fat takeover of the New England wholesale electric generation and transmission markets?  $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Jack, the fight is just beginning, and you have a majority of fed up, overcharged Maine people on your side.

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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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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