Maine PUC Commission OK’s wind and solar projects

October 26, 2020 by Kate Cough

CLIFTON — The Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved contracts for 17 renewable power projects on Sept. 22, including a 20-megawatt (MW) wind farm known as Silver Maple Wind in Clifton and a 100-MW solar project in Hancock known as Three Rivers Solar.

The PUC approved a contract for SWEB Development’s Silver Maple Wind that includes two options: one where the company sells the electricity it generates for $34.30 per megawatt hour (MWh), increasing by 2 percent each year, and a second where it sells it at a fixed price, for $40.18 per MWh. The commission will have the final say on the price.................

..................... Silver Maple, according to contract documents, has estimated it will be able to provide roughly 68,596 MWh of electricity each year. Three Rivers Solar has said it will be able to deliver around 157,888 MWh, minus a “degradation factor” of 0.43 percent (or roughly 678 MWh) annually. (Solar panels can produce electricity for decades, but produce less and less as they age, a process called degradation.) “The first-year prices for energy from the new projects receiving an award are very competitive, ranging between 2.9 to 4.2 cents per [kilowatt hour],” said Commission Chairman Philip L. Bartlett II. “Additionally, these projects are expected to provide substantial benefits to the Maine economy by creating jobs and making significant local investments.”

Most of the other contracts approved by the PUC were for solar farms, with Silver Maple Wind the lone wind power project..........................

..................... State officials set off a rush among developers after enacting a law last year requiring the state to increase the percentage of renewable energy in its portfolio to 80 percent of electricity sales by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050.

“Today’s announcement is a historic step forward in Maine’s effort to embrace renewable energy, create good-paying green-collar jobs, diversify and expand our economy and combat the threat of climate change,” said Governor Janet Mills in a statement after the PUC announcement. “This progress, which is the direct result of bipartisan energy legislation I signed last year, further establishes Maine as a national clean energy leader.”

The electricity generated by both Silver Maple and Three Rivers will be sold to Versant, formerly Emera Maine, which was recently bought by ENMAX Corp. of Canada............................

.................... Silver Maple Wind, a fiveturbine, $44-million wind project, would double the number of turbines and triple the energy potential of the existing five-turbine Pisgah Mountain Wind project in Clifton.

That project is still undergoing state review by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Please read the full article at:

https://www.ellsworthamerican.com/maine-news/puc-commission-oks-win...

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Comment by Kenneth Capron on October 27, 2020 at 5:54pm

Don't know if you folks follow the Portland Planning Board. Last week, the Land Bank was all excited that the City was going to buy some land on Rand Road from Avangrid to be placed in the Land Bank. The deal was to sell 27+ acres assessed at $XXXXX and Avangrid was then going to donate all but $50K of the purchase price back to the Land Bank. The net effect was that the Land Bank was getting quite a deal on a property which had been declared unbuildable and well below the FMV of the property.

The problem is that 501c3 entities, as fiduciaries, can't sell or give away property at less than fair market value. so no matter what color lipstick they put on the pig, they were giving this 27 acres away at 20% of FMV. I have now challenged the Land Bank and the Avangrid Foundation. A/F should have offered the property in a FMV sale process. The land is buildable. I don't know all of the background yet but I will keep digging. I wish the media would grab hold of these schitty City shenanigans.

Comment by Donna Amrita Davidge on October 27, 2020 at 4:29pm
And thank you Ken
Comment by Donna Amrita Davidge on October 27, 2020 at 4:29pm
Super disturbing
Comment by Kenneth Capron on October 27, 2020 at 2:30pm

Let's see how they react to legislation I will be proposing that will require proper disposal of solar waste. By that, I don't just mean the lass and aluminum. I mean the 5-10% of the chemicals that make the power. I mean the cathode, anode and the semiconductor (silicon). To recover these trace chemicals can be an expensive process. Today, in the US, these chems are either burned or buried in landfills. Both ways put harmful chemicals into our air or water.

I am working on a cost per panel to completely recycle the materials. It could be anywhere from $10 to $500 per panel. The acids, chemicals and processes for separating the solar chems is complicated.

Guess who will stand in the way of such a recycling regulation? In Washington state the passed a similar law in 2017 which required an approved method for recycling 100%. It also banned disposal in landfills and shipping out of state. So, I believe warehouse space is being used to store their solar waste until Washington approves a model of recycling.

 

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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