Massachusetts Offshore Wind Electric Rates Gov Healey vs DPU

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey: Pro Offshore Wind Agenda 
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VS: 
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Massachusetts DPU: Pro Electric Ratepayers 
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The state of Massachusetts as of November 2022 had forecast that offshore wind projects will reduce residential and commercial electricity bills by approximately less than one percent.

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In December 2022, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities approved long-term contracts offshore wind contracts with several local power companies that reduced electric rates. Former Governor Charlie Baker said offshore wind would provide clean, affordable, and resilient energy.

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The Department of Public Utilities (DPU) is an adjudicatory agency overseen by a three-member Commission.

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The MassDPU contract approvals are the result of legislation passed called An Act to Promote Energy Diversity.  

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In January of 2023, the offshore wind companies said inflation has cut into their profit margin and cannot be financed. Massachusetts state regulators, MassDPU, has denied their request to rebid the projects at a higher price saving ratepayers money.

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If the offshore wind companies are allowed to rebid their contracts the Massachusetts electric rates will not see a savings of one percent. There has been no press release from the state executive branch as far as increases due to rebidding.

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The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) March 2023 announced it approved reductions in electric basic service rates. On average, the decreases will result in a monthly bill decrease of about 40 percent for a typical residential customer. The first offshore wind project in Rhode Island was completed in 2016. The RI offshore wind project was also sold as saving electric ratepayers 40 percent on their electric bills.

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It appears the new Governor Maura Healey's administration is working to allow offshore wind to rebid offshore wind contracts trading a higher price for electricity in return for onshore economic development. Aka your electric rate goes up due to the executive branch of government end run around MassDPU.

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Currently, Massachusetts has the 4th highest electricity rate in the US at over 25 cents per kilowatt hour.

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Notes#. 

1.  Whale and Dolphin deaths have followed the offshore wind construction from 2016 Rhode Island offshore wind to the entire east coast wind construction.

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2.  According to USPS change-of-address data, these are the 10 top states people are leaving:

California. #1     July 2021 to July 2022, California lost roughly 211,000 people   

New York. ... #2

Pennsylvania. ... #3

Massachusetts. ...#4

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Comment by Willem Post on June 4, 2023 at 1:44pm

BIDEN 30,000 MW OF OFFSHORE WIND BY 2030; AN EXPENSIVE FANTASY  

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/biden-30-000-mw-of-off...

The Biden administration announced on October 13, 2021, it will subsidize the development of up to seven offshore wind systems (never call them farms) on the US East and West coasts, and in the Gulf of Mexico; a total of about 30,000 MW of offshore wind by 2030.

 

Biden's offshore wind systems would have an adverse, long-term impact on US electricity wholesale prices, and the prices of all other goods and services, because their expensive electricity would permeate into all economic activities.

 

The wind turbines would be at least 800-ft-tall, which would need to be located at least 30 miles from shores, to ensure minimal disturbance from night-time strobe lights.

 

Any commercial fishing areas would be significantly impacted by below-water infrastructures and cables. The low-frequency noise (less than 20 cycles per second, aka infrasound) of the wind turbines would adversely affect marine life, and productivity of fishing areas.

 

Offshore Electricity Production

 

Annual production would be about 30,000 x 8766 h/y x 0.45, capacity factor = 118,341,000 MWh, or 118.3 TWh of variable, intermittent, wind/weather/season-dependent electricity.

 

The additional wind production would be about 100 x 118.3/4000 = 2.96% of the annual electricity loaded onto US grids.

That US grid load would increase, due to tens of millions of future electric vehicles and heat pumps.

 

This would require a large capacity of combined-cycle, gas-turbine plants, CCGTs, to cost-effectively:

 

1) Counteract the wind output variations, MW, aka grid balancing

2) Fill-in wind production shortfalls, MWh, during any wind lulls

 

Such lulls occur at random throughout the year, and may last 5 to 7 days in the New England area.

 

These URLs provide examples of similar wind/solar lull conditions in Germany and New England

 

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/analysis-of-a-6-day-lu...

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/wind-plus-solar-plus-st...

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/wind-and-solar-energy-...

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/playing-russian-roulet...

 

High Costs of Balancing the Grid with Increased Wind and Solar

 

The ANNUAL grid balancing costs are entirely due to the variations and intermittencies of wind and solar, because the OTHER power plants have to operate far from their efficient modes of operation, 24/7/365. They experience:

 

1) More up/down production at lower efficiencies, which have more Btu/kWh, more CO2/kWh

2) More equipment wear-and-tear cost/kWh, due to up/down production

3) More-frequent plant starts/stops, which have high Btu/kWh, high CO2/kWh

 

Increased wind and solar also requires:

 

- Increased hot, synchronous (3,600 rpm), standby plant capacity, MW, to immediately provide power, if wind/solar generation suddenly decreases, or any other power system outage occurs.

- Increased cold, standby plant capacity, MW, to provide power after a plant’s start-up period.  

 

When wind and solar were only a very small percent of the electricity loaded onto the NE grid, those balancing costs were minimal, sort of “lost in the data fog”

 

When wind and solar became a large percent, those balancing costs in the UK became 1.3 BILLION U.K. pounds in 2020, likely even more in 2021, 2022, etc.

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/grid-balancing-costs-s...

 

Those balancing costs should have been charged to the Owners of wind and solar systems, but, in reality, they were politically shifted to taxpayers, ratepayers, and government debts.

 

Those balancing costs are in addition to the various government subsidies, which are also politically shifted to taxpayers, ratepayers, and government debts.

 

Now you all are finally beginning to see just how wonderful wind and solar have been, and will be, for your pocketbook.

 

Energy systems analysts, with decades of experience, saw this mess coming about 20 years ago, but all-knowing legislators and bureaucrats ignored them, because they were pressured into aiding and abetting the harvesting of federal and state subsidies for RE businesses.

 

Turnkey Capital Cost of 30,000 MW of Offshore Wind

 

The turnkey capital cost for wind systems, plus offshore/onshore grid extension/augmentation would be about 30,000 MW x $5,000,000/MW = $150 BILLION, excluding financing costs. 

 

The capital cost and resulting cost of electricity production, c/kWh, would significantly increase, due to: 1) increased inflation rates, 2) increased interest rates, 3) supply chain disruptions, which delay projects and increase costs, 4) increased energy prices, such as of oil, gas, coal, electricity, etc., 5) increased materials prices, such as of tungsten, cobalt, lithium, copper, manganese, etc., 6) increased labor rates.

Comment by Willem Post on June 4, 2023 at 1:35pm

Any population decrease in these states is being offset by an influx of Biden’s unvetted, low-social level, poor, illegal-entry folks from anywhere in the world, just walking across the on-purpose open southern and northern US borders.

This is not MAGA

THIS IS HIGH TREASON TO ARTIFICIALLY REMAKE THE US FOR DEMOCRAT PARTY PURPOSES

These folks draw benefits from all sorts of Democrat-run federal and state programs for furnished housing, food, clothing, free iPhones, transportation, education and healthcare, that greatly exceed what lifelong US citizens receive.

These folks do not work, because their background is mostly manual labor.

A certain percentage of low-lives has a background in drug trafficking, human trafficking, and criminal activities.

These folks have no education, no skills, no modern work experience, often are from different US-hating cultures

THIS IS HIGH TREASON TO ARTIFICIALLY REMAKE THE US FOR DEMOCRAT PARTY PURPOSES

 

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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We have the facts on our side. We have the truth on our side. All we need now is YOU.

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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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