No responses to this the first time.  How about now?

 

First, can someone please tell me where/how to locate electricity production values (capacity factors) for wind farms operating in the US?  A specific FERC link would be appreciated.

 

Second, is there any more recent (than 2007) federal electricity subsidy data at the EIA's web site?  

 

Thanks.

Views: 201

Comment

You need to be a member of Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine to add comments!

Join Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine

Comment by Brian Ruth on March 2, 2011 at 8:27am

Thank you all for your responses.  I have attempted to access FERC spreadsheets per Steve Thurston, but I am having problems.  When I filled in the required fields to access site-specific data, I got a message about downloading WinZip.  Although I have Windows XP (which the message says includes this code), I was still unable to get a link for the info I was requesting.  So, I downloaded the recommended file and tried again.  Same problem.  No link, but the same WinZip message.

 

Now, my problem may well stem from my lack of tech savvy-ness.  Or it could be due to clunky, half-baked government software.  I hope it's the former.  Sorry that I have to ask, but does anyone have any further suggestions that might help me get to this stuff?

 

Thanks.

Comment by Harrison Roper on February 28, 2011 at 5:59pm

Brian Ruth -  I hope I've got this right:

  In electricity production lingo, "capacity" (meaning "installed capacity") is to the ability of an electric generator to make power under ideal conditions. Promoters usually write about "can produce enough electricity to power .....homes."  They love that way of putting it, and never cite any other figures detailing average demand, consumption, or power production records, etc.

  There is another, specialized  use of the term "capacity", which means  power under contract arranged by the grid operator (at a certain price) to be called on at a moment's notice when needed. I think the "capacity" that is referred to in the FERC printouts is this second, specialized meaning.

You'd better check this out with with someone who knows better than I do, maybe Long Islander

knows.

  The only way I know of to find out the number of turbines (and their size and capacity) in an industrial wind facility is to read news articles and the promoters' publicity, or go there and look at them.  They cannot be hidden.  A good place to see all of  the Stetson array is north of Danforth on the road toward Bancroft.

Harrison Roper  Houlton/Danforth   207-532-3797

Comment by alice mckay barnett on February 27, 2011 at 12:28pm
You guys are great.  See you on March 10 at dixfield High School?  DEP meets Public?
Comment by Steve Thurston on February 25, 2011 at 3:25pm

Brian,

The following link is the starting point for electricity reports from the FERC website.   I use the first option - download quarterly spreadsheets.  By using spreadsheet functions you can total the energy (as opposed to capacity) delivered and payments made,  and then use the installed capacity (obtained elsewhere) to calculate the capacity factor for the period.  
 
http://ferc.gov/docs-filing/eqr/data.asp


I'm also attaching a Kibby (TransCanada) spreadsheet I manipulated to extract energy, capacity, and calculate capacity factors. This is from last winter.   Kibby only reported monthly totals, but some generators report by the hour,  which makes it easier to see the erratic output of wind. 

01964_200912_transactions%20%28version%201%29.xlsx

 

As for your question about subsidy data,  I'm not aware of anything newer, but clearly the $27/MW number is grossly understated, when you calculate the value of RECs, PTCs, TIF agreements (property tax subsidies) inflated power purchase agreements (such as Cape Wind),  and ratepayer funded transmission projects, wind power probably gets closer to $80-100 per MW in overall government support.

 

Steve Thurston

 

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/

Not yet a member?

Sign up today and lend your voice and presence to the steadily rising tide that will soon sweep the scourge of useless and wretched turbines from our beloved Maine countryside. For many of us, our little pieces of paradise have been hard won. Did the carpetbaggers think they could simply steal them from us?

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

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

 -- Mahatma Gandhi

"It's not whether you get knocked down: it's whether you get up."
Vince Lombardi 

Task Force membership is free. Please sign up today!

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/

© 2024   Created by Webmaster.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service