Vermont Legislature Drops Renewable Energy Requirements For Utilities
Under pressure from business groups, the Legislature has backed away from a plan to require utilities to buy a certain percentage of their electricity from renewable sources.
The energy bill is one of the last pieces of legislation awaiting action before the 2012 session adjourns.
But the business community opposed a section of the bill that said utilities had to step up their purchase of renewable power supplies. They argued that would raise electricity rates and not do much to improve Vermont's greenhouse gas footprint.
East Montpelier Democrat Tony Klein chairs the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee. He said some utilities were also skeptical about the legislature mandating a renewable portfolio standard. He said the utilities benefit now from selling credits from their own clean energy projects.
"It's no secret that we heard from business on that end. And heard from utilities that are also the ones that are selling the RECs. So that is not a hard one for my committee to adapt to," Klein said.
Governor Peter Shumlin says he wants the Legislature to pass the energy bill. But his administration supports the compromise. Elizabeth Miller heads the Department of Public Service.
"Studying the issues that have been brought up also seems appropriate to us. And frankly it's an issue of ensuring that views are respected, compromises are reached and progress continues," Miller said.
Associated Industries of Vermont and other business organizations have been urging the Legislature to drop the renewable mandate.
http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/94373/legislature-drops-renewable-en...
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Comment
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Comment by Harrison Roper on May 3, 2012 at 2:56pm
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Renewable mandates are usually based on "installed capacity" and not on the historic record of actual power produced by various generators. Fueled generators (coal and gas) usually have average output (Capacity Factor) that is close to the installed capacity, while wind turbines rarely achieve an average Capacity Factor that is above 33.3%.
According to Federal Energy Regulation Commission (FERC) data, First Wind's Stetson II had a Capacity Factor of 26 % for the full year 2011; for the same period of time Stetson I posted Capacity Factor 31.4%. This means these industrial wind farms produced less than 1/3 of their "installed capacity. Yet these installations may well be counted in the Renewable Energy Standard at full capacity"
That is a scam, in my opinion. The Renewable Energy Standard should be based on actual power produced, not on pie-in-the-sky "perfect" production. That would require building at least the times capacity to get the actual power.
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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