Fudging the UMPI wind power numbers in Maine - but who's watching?

On a test score, the following sort of discrepancy could be the difference between failing a course or getting a good grade. But when it comes to electricity, i.e., the ratepayer's wallet, who cares?

PPH: The Ultimate Sustainable Campus Map

Excerpt:

UMPI’s wind turbine has not yet lived up to its projected potential of producing 700,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually. 

 

http://www.pressherald.com/2014/09/21/the-ultimate-sustainable-camp...

CORRECTION:

The University's annual goal was actually 1,000,000 kilowatt hours -- 43% higher than the 700,000 kilowatt hours reported by the Press-Herald. This is a perfect example of the state's fast and loose non-empirical approach to energy that has caused Maine to be one of the most expensive energy states in the nation. After all, what's being off by 43% when it's other people's money? This wind turbine was originally supposed to cost $1.5 million but its cost went up to $2 million. Now the $2 million cost is likely growing as maintenance and repairs add up. 

From the Bangor Daily News on May 14, 2009:

"University officials anticipate the turbine will produce about 1 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year and save the institution more than $100,000 annually in electricity charges"

http://bangordailynews.com/2009/05/14/news/wind-turbine-dedicated-i...

 

and

 

http://bangordailynews.com/2009/11/18/news/film-on-umpi-windmill-to...

Here is the 1,000,000 goal again:

http://www.umpi.edu/files/alumni/blue-and-gold_2009-summer.pdf

and again:

http://www.umpi.edu/news/releases/item/08-09038

... and then there is the following "lovefest" comment, describing the UMS Board of Trustees, written by then UMPI president Don Zillman which sums it all up:

http://www.learningace.com/doc/4600733/c88fc1709f1ff988adf0a7bbef71...

Kurt Adams with First Wind, our former PUC Commissioner who started UMPI off with a $50,000 check for ther wind turbine from the PUC is on the UMS Board of Trustees.

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Comment by Donna Amrita Davidge on September 23, 2014 at 3:43pm

Jim knows his stuff..thank you for your voice Jim..

Comment by Jim Wiegand on September 23, 2014 at 3:22pm

A 3000 mile flight in a 747 uses approximately 21,000 gallons of fuel or the equivalent of 707,700 kilowatt hours of electricity.

In 2 years the University's wind turbine did not even offset one round trip flight. Each day in America there are 30,000 commercial flights. This illustrates the hypocrisy, the fraud, and how meaningless of a solution these sprawling turbines really are. The turbine peddlers are aware of this, but will not tell you.

Comment by Jim Wiegand on September 23, 2014 at 2:28pm

Speaking of corruption, here is a statement from the lengthy comments I sent in yesterday on the 30 year eagle killing permits..............

"As it is I have yet to come across a single credible study related to the wind industry's mortality impacts. Peer reviewed or not it does not matter because these studies are rigged to hide the truth. The FWS,  the Interior Department, or even the AWEA can recommend any wind turbine mortality study ever produced, and I will point out exactly how it was rigged to hide turbine mortality from the public.                                                                                                                        

                                                                                                                                                                I hope someone from the Interior Department or FWS will take me up on my offer but I expect no response because they know they will be exposed. Exposed for the game of letting their supposedly independent research, do the lying for them. This illustrates how bad really it really is with our government, the scientific community and the wind industry."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Comment by Donna Amrita Davidge on September 23, 2014 at 2:20pm

This is such a corrupt deal it is deep in so many directions with lies and deceptions..my emera bill gave the option to sign up for clean energy which includes wind and they say it is clean and nonpolluting..lies more lies..

Comment by Martha thacker on September 23, 2014 at 11:07am

A member of the MPUC was concerned that Mainers would lose trust in the system when rates continued to rise. Perhaps he was one of the few who was not blinded when a $ was waved in front of him. Like the selectman from Burlington, ME ,population around 300,  who actually wanted to help his community. His heart was in the right place BUT he got a turbine all for his people after 20 years, a fire dept. , and promise of a retirement home. This somehow did not make the papers . One odd thing that did make a local paper however was a selectman from Lee asking that his district loan First Wind $20,000 to hire Eaton Peabody to negotiate for a good TIF. Guess Lee didn't fall for it and when . election time came around, this particular selectman had to have a recount in order to "find" 50 uncounted votes so he could remain in his office.  And Lee Academy was promised a tennis court for their support..think the concrete has been poured, last I heard. So when the hearings for permitting went on for Bowers Mt. and Stetson I and II at Lee Academy , nobody said a word when all the gung ho supporters of wind farms greeted you at the door. No matter how early anti wind farmers arrived, first a slew of locals stood up to say they wanted wind farms in the case of Bowers Mt..  Stetson I and II the First Wind people would go on and on and everybody else had to keep comments to a strict 5 minutes. I do not think we have freedom of the press or democracy here. Stetson II was not even allowed a hearing. Even though when Stetson I was permitted ,an employee of J Haynes said Stetson II was in the bag.He makes a million a year from his wind farm lease.

Comment by Mary Kay Barton on September 23, 2014 at 10:13am
I feel your pain up there in Maine!!!  Welcome to the world of the media controlling the message!

We've been fighting the industrial wind scam in western New York State for over a decade now.  I've been blocked from posting comments on numerous sites, and even when they do publish the rare rebuttal letter to the "green" propaganda they relentlessly publish, the link won't work for long.  In example, here is a rebuttal opinion I wrote that was published in the Buffalo News back in August of 2012.  Luckily it was published on Wind Watch, but if you click on the source link at the bottom of the article, you will see the article is MIA from the Buffalo News. 

Big subsidies for wind projects are ‘FIT’ for retirement:

http://wind-watch.org/news/?p=26882


Numerous local newspapers will not publish any letters from anyone regarding industrial wind here in NY anymore - even though citizens in Wyoming County, NY are now suing Invenergy due to the ill-effects created by the sprawling wind factories here, and despite the fact that "green" energy is the major push of Governor Cuomo's energy-illiterate, cronyism-driven energy policy in New York State. 

It has been reported that New York State has the highest electric rates in the continental U.S. (http://states.aarp.org/off-the-charts-ny-residential-electric-rates...) - but hey, Cuomo just keeps throwing $Billions more into the wind, "necessarily skyrocketing" our electric rates even more, and God forbid any "green" deniers be allowed to question what is going on. 

The world has gone mad.

Comment by Martha thacker on September 23, 2014 at 8:26am

Is this hacking?

Comment by Martha thacker on September 23, 2014 at 8:25am

Thinklikeamountain...I had the same experience with BDN re. comments being visible only to the poster. Would not have known the difference if I hadn't had another computer in the house. This was  a long time ago.The online editor vehemently denied censoring.My neighbor who is also vehemently against wind farms would send me emails, and vice versa,  and it took hours for them to show up at times. Not all the time.

Comment by Thinklike A. Mountain on September 22, 2014 at 10:14pm

Mike - the Press-Herald will often not post Facebook comments. That said, the party posting is initially none the wiser as the comment is actually visible to the poster. But only to the poster. What's up with that? Does the Press-Herald censor think the banned posters will never catch on?

Comment by Mike DiCenso on September 22, 2014 at 8:14pm

Is the PPH getting comments like they used to before they switched to Facebook? Just wondering if the move reduced the anti wind comments which was their intent.

 

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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We have the facts on our side. We have the truth on our side. All we need now is YOU.

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 -- Mahatma Gandhi

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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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