Transmission is latest front in fossil fuels v. renewables battle
Apart from line loss due to electricity traveling long distances from generation source to consumption point, if wind projects require 200 miles of transmission line to reach the average point of electricity consumption in the grid and natural gas plants require only 20 miles of transmission line to reach the average point of electricity consumption in the grid (because the latter can be built closer to population centers), should not the ratepayer be advised that the associated transmission cost for wind is ten times that for natural gas? As a basic consumer protection, should not ratepayers be dissuaded of the notion that wind power is free energy?
It's high time for wind projects to fully pay for the amount of transmission they cause and use. Ratepayers should never pay any of this cost.
Article:
Directly assigning transmission losses would expose the true costs of delivering electricity from remote locations where renewable resources have been concentrated, NRG and Calpine said, especially West Texas which has seen an over-building of renewables that have overwhelmed the existing transmission infrastructure.......................Trump recently nominated a critic of renewable power and subsidies to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees power markets. Bernard McNamee, a former staffer at the conservative Austin think tank Texas Public Policy Foundation.
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Transmissi...
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Comment by Long Islander on November 30, 2018 at 2:55pm
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Marc Brown, President, New England Ratepayers Association at energy forum:
Brown discussed the importance of having a more rationale energy policy:
"Too often regulators and elected officials do not understand or appreciate the impacts that political policies are having on our energy markets. As a result, we as a region, and even nationally, are headed down a path of increased costs and decreased reliability," Brown said. "Businesses, families, generators, utilities and anyone concerned about the escalating costs of electricity should join to fight for less government interference and more open energy markets."
https://www.altenergymag.com/news/2018/11/30/us-secretary-of-energy...
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Comment by Frank J. Heller, MPA on November 30, 2018 at 12:39pm
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BROOKFIELD is a major player with 70,000 employees in their system, and they have a huge investment in Hydro. Anyone ever contact them?
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Comment by Dan McKay on November 30, 2018 at 12:19pm
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Most grid scale wind projects are exposed to curtailment rules, where they can be ordered to shut down when their output might put the transmission lines and/or substations in jeopardy of overload.
ISO-NE has incorporated negative pricing in their wholesale markets, so if there is room for their output, generators can pay to have their output entered into the transmission system, thus replacing other generation. It happens at times of low load needs, like early morning or when loads are ramping down. State sponsored generation has an advantage during these periods as the generators receive a contracted fixed price for having their output reach transmission and, if applicable, the receipt of the PTC and renewable energy credits.
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I've been looking at the other side of the mismatch, which is excess production that is rejected by the grid. At the residential level I believe that smart meters can turn off the flow from small PV projects when there is no need.
What is the impact on wind farm production when there is an excess of power being produced; what is the cost of shutting down and is this regarded as a 'loss'?
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It appears the system operator for Texas ( ERCOT ) does not factor losses in it's wholesale electricity pricing formula. ISO-NE does. If ERCOT was to implement losses as a price factor, the price factored due to wind project generation would lower the local marginal prices as we see happen in Maine often. This is to provide incentives for generation to locate close to loads, reducing losses. Unfortunately, most of Maine's wind receives their revenue from Southern New England PPAs at set prices which ignore loss factors. This is one of the reasons Maine electricity prices are the lowest in New England as our prices correlate to wholesale marginal pricing, whereas PPA prices are a fixed price, and almost always with annual escalations.
With that said, things are far from rosy with this situation because wind is an intermittent resource and the market operator( ISO-NE ) must make many adjustments to matching supply with load ( changes in the reserve market ( the fast response stand by generation ), expanding the time intervals such fast response generation holds it's posture. Fast response generations become a premium resource and gets paid accordingly thus causing wholesale prices to rise throughout the entire regional market.Also notable and much influenced by the retirement of base load generation is the forward capacity market, which was established to ascertain enough generation would be available three years into the future, This adds to the wholesale costs by paying generation for promises it can deliver whether called upon or not, Why would base load or dispatchable generation seek retirement without the Forward Capacity payments: "State Sponsored Intermittent Producing Generation" undercutting wholesale prices even though they account for very little electricity supply.
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Comment by Frank Haggerty on November 30, 2018 at 10:17am
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Falmouth: "Take Notice" Vestas Wind Turbine Noise Warning 110 Db
Town previously prior to construction (2010) been provided the Sound performance for the V82 turbine it produces 110 decibels of noise.
Massachusetts Nov 30, 2018
https://patch.com/massachusetts/falmouth/falmouth-take-notice-vesta...
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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