Recent Cold Snap Reveals the Weak Link Between Northern Maine and Massachusetts.

The New England electricity market operated with  nuclear plant generation reduced by 1200 megawatts from January 8,2023 to January 19, 2023. Since Tuesday, January 16th when a significant snowfall event occurred all over New England with a simultaneous cold snap, all generators have been called upon at different times of the day. Hydro peaked out during the morning and evening peak demand periods. Solar was non-existence during these peak periods.Natural gas-fired generation soared to 9500 megawatts. Imports, mostly from Canada often exceeded 20% of load.. Oil and coal plants were called into operation. This was a four day event. 3 of the 4 days featured sunny skies, although Wednesday, the day after the snowstorm, the solar panels were probably still snow covered.. Wind was fairly moderate, producing an average of 700 megawatts.


Everything was normal, according to ISO-NE.
 Noticeably not normal was the importation of power from the Province of New Brunswick which was being imported at above normal levels partly due to the reduction of nuclear power plant production and partly due to increased demand due to the colder weather.
 
But New Brunswick delivers power into the ISO-NE grid in the northern portion of Maine, while the big electric demand centers are in Massachusetts. 
The ISO-NE adjusts  the monetary energy value of electricity production by the ease or difficulty in said production to reach the destinations of demand. These parameters are measured in line loss and congestion. Line loss is quantified by the length of transmission from A to B and the number of substation switching that takes place. More line losses equals reduced prices paid to the generators.
Congestion applies to the capacity of the wires used to transmit the power. As the maximum capacity of the wires is approached, the price paid for generation is reduced to protect the wires. Sending power from Northern Maine to Southern New England will encounter other generations trying to enter the same paths. Just like merging into a rush hour highway traffic, electricity from many generators will try to merge together.
New Brunswick power prices were reduced from $225 energy price per megawatt hour to $50 per megawatt hour, adjusting for losses and congestion.
If New Brunswick has so much difficulty maintaining an energy price reaching ISO-NE demand centers, how is 3000 megawatts of power from Aroostook County going to maintain prices without several billion dollars of cost to build  a transmission line to relieve line losses and congestion?

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Comment by Willem Post on January 26, 2024 at 11:11am

Doubling down on Offshore to lose more money on projects, and to increase household electric rates to astronomical levels during an election year, and achieve NO reduction in CO2 or in atmospheric temperature?

These offshore wind projects benefit only the large wind conglomerates in Europe.

These wind turbines and supporting electrical systems are made in Europe, then shipped to the US, and are financed by European pension funds.

Eastern States get all the ugliness, and a higher cost of electricity, and the taxpayers have to pay for 50% subsidies, and the workers in Eastern states have to be soooo grateful to do some of the maintenance, with very expensive replacement parts coming from Europe

Biden and Mill of Maine and Murphy of New Jersey are royally screwing the US people for the benefit of Europeans.

Vote Trump in with a landslide, so he can wipe out all the Biden idiocy off the map

WORLD’s LARGEST OFFSHORE WIND SYSTEM DEVELOPER ABANDONS TWO MAJOR US PROJECTS AS WIND BUST CONTINUES  

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

EXCTRACT:

New York State had signed contracts with EU big wind companies for four offshore wind projects

Sometime later, the companies were trying to coerce an additional $25.35 billion (per Wind Watch) from New York ratepayers and taxpayers over at least 20 years, because they had bid at lower prices than they should have.

New York State denied the request on October 12, 2023; “a deal is a deal”, said the Commissioner 

 

Owners want a return on investment of at least 10%/y, if bank loans for risky projects are 6.5%/y, and project cost inflation and uncertainties are high 

The about 3.5% is a minimum for all the years of hassles of designing, building, erecting, and paperwork of a project

The project prices, with no subsidies, would be about two times the agreed contract price, paid by Utilities to owners.

The reduction is due to US subsidies provided, per various US laws

All contractors had bid too low. When they realized there would be huge losses, they asked for higher contract prices.

It looks like the contract prices will need to be at least $150/MWh, for contractors to make money. Those contract prices would be at least 60% higher than in 2021

Oersted, Denmark, Sunrise wind, contract price $110.37/MWh, contractor needs $139.99/MWh, a 27% increase

Equinor, Norway, Empire 1 wind, contract price $118.38/MWh, contractor needs $159.64/MWh, a 35% increase

Equinor, Norway, Empire 2 wind, contract price $107.50/MWh, contractor needs $177.84/MWh, a 66% increase

Equinor, Norway, Beacon Wind, contract price $118.00/MWh, contractor needs $190.82/MWh, a 62% increase

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/liars-lies-exposed-as-...

NOTE: Empire Wind 2, 1260 MW, near Long- Island, was cancelled.

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/equinor-bp-cancel-contract-...

 

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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