Massachusetts Offshore Wind Cable Botch

Massachusetts 5 State Plan Calls For Going Back To The 2019 Proposal 

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The Massachusetts offshore wind industry has faced a series of "screw-ups" and multiple severe setbacks, ranging from political interference, lease cancellations, and failed power purchase agreements to catastrophic mechanical failures (the Vineyard Wind blade fracture), supply-chain collapses, and soaring construction costs.
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Coastal communities oppose offshore wind export cables due to concerns over environmental damage, public health, and lowering property values due to noise from high voltage converter plants with battery backup projects.  
Between 2016 and 2019, a study was done for multiple offshore wind companies off the coast of Massachusetts. The plan required an international company that was available at the time to install and own all the main submarine cables from the projects to the mainland. The company would achieve the objective by submarine cables directly to major cities, as in Europe.
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The individual offshore wind companies would connect and pay lease fees to connect to the offshore superhighway grid. The result would be saving each company from installing multiple cables to the closest residential coastal community.  
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During the Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker administration, it was decided to bypass the offshore wind study and allow each company to run multiple submarine cables. This was called picking the low-hanging fruit. The state bypassed the more complex cable plan in favour of achieving easy policy solutions of renewable energy by a certain date. They put the cart before the horse.
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Massachusetts and other states in 2026 are now proposing the 5-state proposal called the coordinated regional offshore wind transmission initiative. This is actually the original grid proposal from 2019.
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The states have realized the boondoggle created by allowing offshore wind companies to install multiple commercial high-voltage cables through residential communities and rebuilding the electric grid to Boston rather than just placing submarine cables to Boston or Hartford.
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The only difference today is that the taxpayers will pay for the offshore wind cable superhighway rather than one major offshore wind company. 
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Massachusetts politicians have shut down fossil fuel plants and aggressively pursued clean energy mandates, and the execution has resulted in delayed timelines, stranded infrastructure, and heavily contested ratepayer expenses.

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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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