Rural Aroostook wind power project takes big step forward
Note that Maine PUC chair Phil Bartlett was on Governor Baldacci's wind task force, which was created to begin the onslaught of Maine's countryside with feckless wind power and put money in the pockets of insiders. https://www.windtaskforce.org/page/the-expedited-wind-law
Longroad Energy is the gang from First Wind - Paul Gaynor, Michael Alvarez, Peter Keel and Charles Spiliotis.
The investors listed on their website include a couple of New Zealand concerns, one owned by the New Zealand government. https://www.longroadenergy.com/about-us/investors/ Who would have thought that New Zealand would have a say in the destruction of Maine?
The PUC chair said "the influx of renewable energy into the regional grid will also place downward pressure on electricity prices, benefiting consumers in Maine....". After all the grotesque wind projects already installed across Maine, I wonder whether the commissioner has looked at his electricity bill lately.
Note that the NECEC, the Canadian hydro line that could affect the fortunes of this Aroostook wind power disaster is currently on fast track for trial in April 2023 and prompt trial...
Emphasis in bold mine.
by Lori Valigra
Maine regulators named the winners Wednesday of bids on a renewable energy project that would bring electricity to underserved areas in the northern part of the state, but it still is not clear how much ratepayers will be asked to pay for it.
LS Power Base of New York won the transmission portion of the bid and Longroad Energy’s King Pine Wind of Massachusetts won the power generation bid. The two provided the lowest combined bids for the Northern Maine Renewable Energy Development Program that is planned for Aroostook County.
Maine Public Utilities Commission Chair Philip Bartlett said the project could develop significant amounts of renewable generation in northern Maine at a competitive cost. There also are economic benefits.
“Such projects would provide substantial economic development benefits, property taxes, construction jobs and many other benefits to a part of our state that could surely benefit from these investments,” Commissioner Patrick Scully said.
All three commissioners agreed on the bidders. However, they could not rule on whether the project is in the public interest until they get more information on who will pay for the project and how much Maine ratepayers might have to absorb. And that could depend on whether and how much Massachusetts is willing to kick into the project.
With the $1 billion Central Maine Power Co. hydropower corridor stalled and in legal jeopardy, the Massachusetts energy regulators who hold the keys to the project are preparing alternatives, including the Aroostook project, in the event of its potential defeat.
Maine Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Aroostook, the major backer behind the project, lauded the commission’s decision. He said renewable energy projects in northern Maine, which includes Aroostook County and part of Piscataquis County, face significant cost challenges due to the lack of connection to the New England power grid.
“We are on the cusp of making what sometimes seemed like a pipe dream, a reality,” he said.
The Aroostook project would carry output from a 1,000 megawatt wind power facility. Bartlett said the cost of the transmission line is about $2.8 billion, although the wind power project is expected to provide a savings of $1.08 billion. That would bring the project’s net cost to $1.8 billion over 20 years.
Bartlett said the combination of the projects is significantly less expensive than the other bids received. The projects will provide benefits to Maine and the region, including jobs during construction, property tax revenue for communities and environmental benefits from new renewable energy displacing fossil fuel.
“The influx of renewable energy into the regional grid will also place downward pressure on electricity prices, benefiting consumers in Maine and throughout New England,” he said.
Still, the project is costly and Maine is looking for partners to shoulder some of the burden. Massachusetts has statutory authority to consider procuring some or all of the Aroostook project. But that state is on a different timeline than Maine and has until the end of the year to decide if it wants to support the project.........................
See the following link for the full article and RFP document:
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2022/10/26/business/rural-aroostook...
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Request for Proposals for Renewable Energy Generation and Transmission Projects Pursuant to the Northern Maine Renewable Energy Development Program
https://www.maine.gov/mpuc/regulated-utilities/electricity/rfp-awar...
NOTE: Comments spill over on to second page.
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Comment
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Comment by Dan McKay on October 29, 2022 at 9:06am
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Longroad Energy's King Pine 1,000 MW wind generation project . For 1.8 billion dollars, Northern Maine gets to connect to the New England Grid and have their electric bills tripled and the grid gets maybe 300 Megawatts of electricity that is intermittent, forces out Maine electric plants downstream, and gets us ever so much closer to electricity rationing.Every influx of wind into the Maine grid will cause the local grid to resemble the characteristics of wind plants, intermittent and inconsistent. It will cause plants that are predictable to fold up their tents and electricity from fossil-fueled plants will be ever more needed to backstop wind; fossil-fueled plants from beyond the border of Maine .With Extreme Northern Maine entering the wind plant onslaught, Northern, Central and Western Maine would be just like one giant wind farm. Southern Maine has no wind farms. Isn't that curious?Maine will be dependent on fossil fuel that is becoming scarce and expensive and from plants in other states. The states with the fossil-fueled plants will get the electricity from fossil fueled plants before it arrives in Maine.This is the worst-case but probable scenario Maine could possibly confront. A bitterly cold winter weather spell, lasting days with no local rescue but for the home generators. Will they start? Will they stay running? Will they deliver all the power the home requires to stay warm, to cook, to heat the water, to keep the well pump running? What could the cost be?
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How did your incumbent legislative candidate vote on this bill? They all voted for it.
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Maine's Bullet Train
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It appears the media except for the BDN, have decided not to inform their readers and listeners about this potential 1.8-billion-dollar, grid destroying wind monster.
The legislature, the PUC and now the media protect the developer's secret plan.
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Net Energy Billing Described in a PUC Evaluation 6424 (maine.gov)
A. Ratepayer Impacts
Maine's ratepayers that participate in the State's NEB (Net Energy Billing) programs do realize benefits through reductions in their utility bills.The Commission notes, however, that, based on the structure of arrangements observed to-date in marketing materials for NEB facilities, it appears that NEB customers will receive a small portion of the value associated with their share of the facility (e.g.,10%-15%),
while project developers or sponsors who will finance and construct the facilities receive the remaining value (e.g., 85%-90%).
Moreover, individual ratepayer savings resulting from participation in the
NEB program will be offset to a substantial degree by rate increases resulting from lost utility revenues that are ultimately paid for by the general body of ratepayers.Annual Lost Revenue & Above Market Costs BY Utility:
Central Maine Power: $121,846,892
Versant Power: $ 38,963,480
TOTAL $160,810,372
Another Crime Instituted by Maine Government
Twenty Years Of This Annual Ratepayer Payment Comes To 20 years x $160,810,372 = $3.2 Billon Dollars
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BTW, As Mills directs the Governors Energy Office to intervene in the CMP and Versant rate adjustment cases at the PUC, the same Governors Energy Office provided this statement "Increasing renewable energy generation is a priority of Governor Mills’ Administration."
and..............................."Maine’s Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) was established to advance Maine’s clean energy, "
and............................."Maine’s clean energy sector is poised to become a global leader."
The Developers Dream Team is The Mills Administration; Giving Them a Path to Rape the Maine Ratepayers
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The FBI, the DOJ and the Maine PUC = no longer independent agencies.
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The PUC has become lackies to the Mills Administration: Here they are promoting renewables.................................https://www.maine.gov/mpuc/sites/maine.gov.mpuc/files/inline-files/...
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From Maine PUC Annual Reports of 2020 and 2021
"The fuel sources of electricity produced in Maine in 2019 (the most recent year for which EIA data is available) are shown in Figure 10 above. About 81.1% of electricity produced in Maine in 2019 came from renewable resources, slightly more than the 74.9% in 2018."
"The fuel sources of electricity produced in Maine in 2020 (the most recent EIA data available) are shown in Chart 8 above. About 80% of electricity produced in Maine in 2020 came from renewable resources."
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How about the 3-man energy wrecking crew of the PUC cough up $600,000,000 each to pay for this monstrosity. This decision rates as criminal activity, IMO
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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