Why are Maine Ratepayers Still Paying for RECs Associated With Wind and Solar Plants That are Over 10 Years Old
With the exception being New Hampshire, the five other New England States are on aggressive paths to100% renewables in the electric sector. Vermont requires 7.4% per year growth, Rhode Island, at 7% per year, Maine at 4%, Massachusetts at 3% and Connecticut at 2%. Considering minimal growth in electricity demand, the combined States of New England would require 39,000-megawatt capacity wind or 87,000-megawatt capacity solar for 100% renewable energy.
Maine, alone, would require over 4000-megawatt capacity wind or nearly 9000-megawatt capacity solar.
New England electric sales in 2024 was 111,569,000 megawatt hours in 2024. Maine electric sales in 2024 was11,244,000 megawatt hours. (EIA Figures).
Accelerating growth rates are missing one factor: not enough new renewables. Most pathways to 100% New England renewable generation squarely focused on offshore wind as the resource of choice, but there is a roadblock.
One big question facing the States is what happens when 100% renewable energy is attained. Do the attributes which are presently monetized with Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) go away? Once in place, are electric customers going to want to continue subsidizing renewables? What will it cost to get to 100% and what will it cost going forward at 100%?
When the demand for RECs exceeds the supply of RECs, Competitive Electricity Providers (CEPs) will have to obtain Alternative Compliance Payments (ACPs). Maine Class IA ACPs are currently $50 per megawatt hour, 5 cents per kilowatt hour on retail electric bills.
Where can the state go to get a quick supply of RECs to tamp down costs. This best solution, of course, is to terminate the REC program. It isn't going to work out for anyone. It will collapse or the grid will collapse well before reaching 100%. Already states are scrambling to create paths to increase the REC supply. Massachusetts has qualified nuclear and imported Canadian Hydro power in its Clean Energy Standard. Other states have created new classes to obtain Maine Class II RECs; raising the price. With an ACP of $5 per megawatt hour, Class II Maine RECs/ACP are sure to be a hot commodity.
The ISO-NE wholesale market is already having issues with wind and solar generation causing negative prices. Accelerating installation of these intermittent, heavily subsidized generation will only accelerate this issue. Curtailment of one or both of these generators will only prolong the time to the 100% goal. RECs are only gifted when generation makes the grid.
Are you aware that NextAmp with 69 megawatts of community solar in Maine is surrendering its certification in the Maine RPS? That is over 90,000 RECs.
The best way to deal with RECs is to not have RECs.
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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
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(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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