Citizens' Task Force on Wind Power - Maine

Massachusetts Offshore Wind Contract Failures and Whale Deaths

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) issued orders approving long-term contracts for offshore wind between several offshore wind companies and the Commonwealth’s Electric Distribution Companies.

The approval of these contracts was touted to further the Massachusetts development of an offshore wind industry that would have to provide Massachusetts ratepayers with clean, affordable, and resilient energy.

The offshore contracts were issued under an RFP, a request for proposal that was subject to public comment and independent evaluator approved by the former attorney general who is now Governor Maura Healey. The contracts are in addition approved by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities.

The average price was expected at 7.8 cents/kilowatt hour in nominal dollars or less depending on renewable energy credits. This project was expected to provide approximately up to 1.8% savings on electric ratepayers' monthly energy bills. Overall, the total net benefits, including both direct and indirect benefits, to Massachusetts ratepayers over the life of the contract was expected to be approximately $2.4 billion.

The offshore wind companies after being awarded the contracts say the project

is no longer viable and would not be able to move forward. One company has paused its state permitting process in Rhode Island and Massachusetts and another has filed a court action in Massachusetts despite signing power purchase agreements (PPA). The main reason for backing out of the contracts according to sources is high inflation.

The same companies want to simply rebid the projects again in May of 2023 at a higher rate in which case they could rebid the projects for years as long as inflation continues. The ratepayer's electric bills could equate to a second mortgage on your property by the time this is over.

Massachusetts has a wind agenda and the wind companies have a profit agenda which means the ratepayers and Massachusetts Electric Distribution Companies are going to be charged more money before the wind turbines are even built.

Massachusetts officials as a result of a supposed stringent review had determined to provide the greatest overall value to Massachusetts electric rate customers by delivering offshore wind capacity while providing substantial ratepayer benefits. The Massachusetts DPU’s Order approved the selection and found that these contracts are cost-effective as well as in the public interest.

The former Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities Chairman Matthew Nelson said: “Importantly, this Order protects the Commonwealth’s ratepayers and ensures they will be provided clean, low-cost energy for years to come.” Governor Maura Healey this month replaced the chairman after a recent DPU decision on an offshore wind company.

Massachusetts had a goal of 2000 megawatts of land-based wind power by the year 2020 but only has around 100 megawatts due to poor siting over noise, shadow flicker, and litigation. The land-based wind agenda failed.

The Massachusetts overall offshore wind commitment of 3200 megawatts by 2035 appears troubled by contract withdrawals, inflation, and again legal action by the wind companies. In both cases of land and ocean wind, the only ones really making money are law firms. The ocean wind projects are headed in the same direction as the land-based turbines.

Finally, it was recently brought up at a BOEM, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management meeting this week that Whale deaths started with the Rhode Island wind farm in 2016 and have coincidently followed to New Jersey and New York. The standard answer is boat strikes and fishing gear but to any rational person, it's the sonar testing for the wind turbine locations driving the whales and dolphins on shore.

The question was asked what happens if the Whale deaths coincidently follow the Massachusetts offshore wind companies? What happens to the agenda?

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Comment by Dan McKay on March 23, 2023 at 4:44pm: The only reason for wind projects is to generate Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) which must be bought by electricity sellers as a mandated percentage of their sales with the costs passed along to ratepayers. The ever-growing number of wind projects increases the number of RECs which is thought to increase the percentage of Renewable Energy into the grid. The goal of 100% renewable grid energy being the endpoint.

The real world happens to like electricity, therefore accompanying all these RECs are increased production from non-REC generators, such as the dreaded natural gas and oil-fired plants.

So, are REC producing plants redundant generators to non-REC plants or are non-REC plants redundant to REC plants?

Does it matter?

What matters is which is best for living standards, prosperity and consideration of the environment, because having both is redundant and counterproductive.

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U.S. Sen Angus King

THE UNTOLD STORY OF RECORD HILL WIND

The Untold Story of Record Hill Wind, continued

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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