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After the land-based wind plan political fiasco the new plan calls for a target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 33 percent below 1990 baselines by 2025 using offshore wind turbines, high voltage direct current electric substations, battery backup, and solar.
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Massachusetts politicians failed to require offshore wind contractors to run ocean submarine cables to the large coastal cities where the power would be used. Instead allowed offshore wind to go to small towns to get to the electric grid. The problem now is the New England electric grid is antiquated at capacity and residential homeowners don't want hundreds of thousands of volts of power buried outside their front door.
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The offshore wind plan requires residential neighborhoods to accept 6 to 12-acre electric substations and battery backup sites in their neighborhoods. This only ensures more lawsuits by neighborhood organizations.
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The Massachusetts administration allowed offshore wind companies to back out of legal contracts providing thousands of megawatts of power and raising future electric rates to consumers. The state is putting the climate agenda ahead of the financial needs of families.
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The state wants to add Solar projects, and high-voltage electric vehicle charging stations to an electric grid that can't handle offshore wind power transfers to cities like Boston. No one who drives to work wants an EV that needs to be recharged for 6 to 8 hours every day.
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Whale deaths have followed the construction of ocean wind turbines since the Block Island, Rhode Island wind farm in 2016 to New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts today. Research groups, scientific groups, and others have partnered financially with offshore wind companies blaming ship strikes for whale deaths. The bottom line is a whale deafened by sonar exploration pounding foundations causes deafness. A deaf whale is a dead whale with no navigational skills, unable to eat and communicate.
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No matter how much Massachusetts legislation Beacon Hill passes in 2024 to accelerate progress nothing will happen unless offshore wind provides power by submarine cables to large cities such as Boston and Hartford.
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Note: new modular nuclear reactor designs have been touted as the way to bridge the energy gap
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