PPH - Unexpected foes emerge to CMP’s plan to build transmission line to Canada
Three companies with a stake in Maine's generating capacity fear subsidized energy from Canada could upend the electric market.
New opposition is ramping up to Central Maine Power’s proposal to build a 145-mile transmission line through western Maine, coming from interests who own fossil-fuel power plants in the state, as well as those who want to build wind and solar farms.
Continue reading here:
https://www.pressherald.com/2018/03/25/unexpected-foes-emerge-to-cm...
NOTE: There seem to be differing points of view on whether this proposed line would accommodate or somehow otherwise facilitate the building of yet more wind projects in Maine. Hopefully if this line happens, CMP would allay any such concerns in WRITING.
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Comment
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Comment by Eric A. Tuttle on March 27, 2018 at 10:20am
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The past three days, two of which Bingham Wind never got to production level wind, though they spun as if they were producing.
Predictions for the week are for 40 hours of minimal production due to wind gusts. No sustainable wind production is predicted.The State Average for the 32 days I have monitored is currently at 36% with expectations to go down now that we are past our high wind season.
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Comment by Dan McKay on March 27, 2018 at 9:15am
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Feb 12, 2015Every sector including residential, commercial, industrial, transportation and defense will benefit from the use of low voltage dc power in place of ac power. However, since this article is focused on Data Centers, I will deal with Data Centers. One has to remember that the traditional centralized generation of large base-load AC power and its long-haul distribution via high-voltage transmission followed by conversion to lower voltages is expensive because huge losses of energy occur. Based on 2011 data, globally approximately 70% of electricity produced is lost in generation, transmission, and distribution. At the rate of $0.1/kWh, the annual loss of 142 quadrillion BTU (= 41 trillion kWh) of energy amounts to about $4.1 trillion. The conversion of AC current (generated by centralized power stations) before entering into the Data Center to Direct current does not provide the principal benefits advocated by Thomas Edison. It is the generation of local dc power (e.g. photovoltaics used for power generation) that must be used in the Data Centers to realize the full potential of Direct Current. Local generation does not mean the roof of Data Center. Solar farms nearby to Data Centers can provide local dc Power. (http://spectrum.ieee.org/green-tech/buildings/dc-microgrids-and-the...) There are a number of technical and economic reasons why local dc power is needed .We have organized IEEE First International Conference on DC Microgrid ( June 7-10, 2015 , Atlanta, GA) . A forum such as ICDCM is necessary to support the development of dc electricity infrastructure. All are welcome to attend. The conference web-site is www.icdcm.co
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Comment by Robert Powers on March 25, 2018 at 11:10pm
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New England's appetite for power is going to continue to grow...CT has been quiet and will be demanding a lot more "green" power...the line and southern extensions will increase demand for more wind, etc...you will see increased efforts to fight Natural gas, etc. Eric's comment is very appropriate...and you will see Canadian wind partnerships with more Maine and Vermont wind...projects...the corporate structured alliances are already in place....
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I believe the DC to AC Inverter station was to be in New Hampshire for the Northern Pass project. The Orange Dashed line (DC) could easily be redirected to the north of Cobern Gore and have an Inverter Station somewhere in Maine. Most likely more south near Lewiston.
The plan is to have one line for the HQ Dc Line and a separate line for Canadian Wind Power to parallel it, which would possibly be built to accommodate more wind input from Maine's Western Mountains future turbine builds. (Though CMP denys this) (They also deny that there may be up to 3 such DC Mega lines.450kv DC is about 636kv AC. 345kv doubled = 690kv
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Comment by Long Islander on March 25, 2018 at 1:54pm
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Article also in Sun Journal.
http://www.sunjournal.com/western-maine-power-line-draws-fire/
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Ship cheap reliable AC power or tell them to "F"OFF!
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Hydro Quebec produces and distrubutes 60hz high voltage AC POWER all over eastern Canada. They DO NOT USE a DC GRID! HQ wants to install wind turbines south of Quebec City to the Maine boarder and WILL run a HVDC powerline from a substation near Quebec City to and through Maine so the wind turbines can connect to it.
Wind can't compete with Hydro Quebec but they are offering a deal to wind power producers by shipping the power in DC!
It works like this:
Most wind turbines (when working) produce AC power at a more or less given voltage but very uneven herts. The "dirty" AC power is then converted to DC power at a stable voltage that can be delivered to a DC transmission line. To be useful to the general public the high voltage DC power must be inverted to 60hz and a given voltage.
See the game they are playing???
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The thing about the NECEC line is that Hydro Quebec retains rights to generation up to the full capacity of the transmission line. The line, as a high voltage DC line, doesn't easily allow other generators along the route to tie in without overwhelming expense.
ISO-NE will review this line to determine it meets network standards. Initial engineering evaluations have determined there is grid capacity to receive it's power in addition to simultaneous power from plants upstream.This additional power, if selected by Massachusetts' utilities, will be paid for by a 20 year contract, much like most the Maine wind projects have with many of the same utilities.Because power sources that enter the grid is determined by bid offerings to ISO-NE who use complex parameters to balance prices with the physical interactions of other downstream generation, the generation from the NECEC project will often compete with Maine wind. These resources, both tied to out of market contracts need inclusion into the grid by bid offers to receive contract payments. Whereas this is a matching competitive setup, it will be beneficial to Maine ratepayers as they try to underbid each other.
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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