Tom Saviello, "How's This For Ruining Maine "

LD 1710 "An Act To Require Prompt and Effective Use of the Renewable Energy Resources of Northern Maine "  is the biggest, most expensive boondoggle since the passage of the Expedited Wind Law. It forces the ratepayer to fund a major transmission line, perhaps even longer, larger and far more expensive than the NECEC line and, unlike NECEC which is paid for by Southern New England Electric Utilities, this proposed line will be paid for by ratepayers of investor-owned Maine Utilities, CMP and Versant.
This bill opens Aroostook County up for an unlimited amount of wind and solar projects. You can bet all the mega developers will coordinate to offer the world's largest land based renewable project with a transmission line stretching from Houlton to Kittery.
The bottom line of any offer is the price per kilowatt per project. It's volume over reliability. Economically, a larger volume of product lowers the production costs, but the volume of unreliability will overwhelm Maine's electric network at Texas sized proportions.
 " It will ruin all of Maine"

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Comment by Willem Post on July 6, 2021 at 8:44am

“Sen. Chris Bray, D-Addison, who chairs the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy, said he wants to make sure homeowners have access to weatherization efforts, modifying buildings to reduce energy consumption and optimize energy efficiency. See VTDigger article.

https://vtdigger.org/2021/07/04/climate-council-has-until-december-...

Chris,

BUILDINGS

The standard “weatherizing”, at about $10,000 each, as practiced by Vermont, is totally inadequate for Vermont’s energy hog houses.
It is next to useless to make those houses suitable for heat pumps.

The only way to come anywhere near any CO2 goals, is to build EACH YEAR several thousand net-zero-energy houses and apartments, and energy-surplus houses and apartments.

All of them would need solar panels, batteries, and heat pumps, and large hot water storage tanks.

The energy surplus houses/apartments would have extra solar panels and extra batteries to power EVs.

GAS GUZZLER TAX

As you know, EAN has grossly overestimated the CO2 reduction of an EV, (about 4.5 metric ton/y/EV), because of incorrect assumptions.
The actual reduction is much less.

Vermont needs a gas-guzzler code to impose a fee on low-mileage vehicles.
The more below 40-mpg, the greater would be the fee.
Vehicles with greater than 40-mpg, such as the 54-mpg Toyota Prius, would be exempt.

EVs

RE folks would have everyone drive unaffordable EVs, that would not reduce much CO2 compared with EFFICIENT gasoline vehicles.

On a lifetime, A-to-Z basis, with travel at 105,600 miles over 10 years, the CO2 emissions, based on the present New England grid CO2/kWh, would be:

NISSAN Leaf S Plus, EV, compact SUV, no AWD, would emit 25.967 Mt, 246 g/mile; about a FIFTY PERCENT REDUCTION compared to the present VT LDV mix, which includes larger vehicles than the Nissan Leaf.

TOYOTA Prius L Eco, 62 mpg, compact car, no AWD, would emit 26.490 Mt, 251 g/mile
SUBARU Outback, 30 mpg, medium SUV, with AWD, would emit 43.015 Mt, 407 g/mile
VT LDV mix, 22.7 mpg, many with AWD or 4WD, would emit 56.315 Mt, 533 g/mile

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/electric-bus-systems-l...

HEAT PUMPS

Heat Pumps are Money Losers in my Vermont House (as they are in almost all Vermont houses)

My annual electricity consumption increased about 50% (the various taxes, fees, and surcharges also increased), after I installed three Mitsubishi, 24,000 Btu/h heat pumps, each with 2 heads; 2 in the living room, 1 in the kitchen, and 1 in each of 3 bedrooms.
The heat pumps last about 15 years.

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/vermont-co2-reduction-o...

They are used for heating and cooling my 35-y-old, well-sealed/well-insulated house. It has 2” of blueboard (R-10 vs R-0.67 for 8” concrete) on the outside of the concrete foundation and under the basement slab which has saved me many thousands of heating dollars over the 35 years.

Before heat pumps, my space-heating propane was 1000 gal/y, after heat pumps, it was 830 gal/y, a reduction of 170 gal/y, or $310/y, at $2.399/gal. Additional electricity costs were $609/y. I am losing money
Domestic hot water, DHW, heating, requires about 200 gallon/y

My existing Viessmann propane system, 95%-efficient in condensing mode, is used on cold days, 15F or less, because heat pumps have low efficiencies, i.e., low Btu/kWh, at exactly the same time my house would need the most heat; a perverse situation, due to the laws of Physics 101!!

The heat pumps would be slightly more efficient than electric resistance heaters at -10F, the Vermont HVAC design temperature. It would be extremely irrational to operate air source heat pumps, at such temperatures.

I have had no energy cost savings, because of high household electric rates, augmented with taxes, fees and surcharges. Vermont forcing, with subsidies, the addition of expensive RE electricity to the mix, would make matters worse!!

Amortizing the $24,000 turnkey capital cost at 3.5%/y for 15 years costs about $2,059/y; I am losing money.

There likely will be service calls and parts for the heat pumps, as the years go by, in addition to annual service calls and parts for the existing propane system; I am losing more money.

https://www.myamortizationchart.com

NOTE:
If I had a highly sealed, highly insulated house, with the same efficient propane heating system, my house would use very little energy for heating.
If I would install heat pumps* and would operate the propane system on only the coldest days, I likely would have energy cost savings.
However, those annual energy cost savings would be overwhelmed by the annual amortizing cost, i.e., I would still be losing money, if amortizing were considered.

* I likely would need 3 units at 18,000 Btu/h, at a lesser turnkey capital cost. Their output, very-inefficiently produced, would be about 27,000 Btu/h at -10F, the Vermont HVAC design temperature.

NOTE: VT-Department of Public Service found, after a survey of 77 heat pumps installed in Vermont houses (turnkey cost for a one-head HP system is about $4,500), the annual energy cost savings were, on average, $200, but the annual amortizing costs turned that gain into a loss of $200, i.e., on average, these houses were unsuitable for heat pumps, and the owners were losing money.

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/cost-savings-of-air-sou...

Comment by Art Brigades on June 29, 2021 at 10:56pm

The "Pillage Aroostook" bill has been signed into law by the governor.  http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/getPDF.asp?paper=SP0563...

Comment by Robert Powers on June 29, 2021 at 8:01pm

Trans-Canada is also heavily involved in the planning and interconnection of more transmission and large Wind Power Generation with some solar included...and Hydro Quebec will vary water flows as needed....the investors/funding for these projects is wide and deep...

Comment by Willem Post on June 29, 2021 at 7:34pm

If New England were to have more wind turbines, it has to be connected to the Quebec grid, to counteract the variations of wind and solar, by varying the water flow through the HQ hydro turbines.

That would be, by far, the lowest cost approach, less than 1 to 2 c/kWh, all-in cost

Batteries would be, by far, the highest cost approach, about 55 to 60 c/kWh, all-in cost.

See my below comments and articles.

Comment by Robert Powers on June 29, 2021 at 11:08am

If you think the corridor is for just Hydro power, you have been seriously mislead!  The proposed corridor will be the primary artery for connecting thousands of wind turbines in western and Northern Maine, in deduction to new solar power technology...   number of additional satellite transmission lines are also planned...but not represented in the CMP corridor...which is only the beginning! FACT.  Tom Saviello is on target but still does not know all of the ramifications of the corridor project!

Comment by Barry Stephens on June 29, 2021 at 9:43am

Tom Saviello going on Tucker Carlson and dissing with lies the NECEC exposed his masters. The gas industry. So this is what you get when you are bought and paid for by ANY entity. The unintended consequences. Hydro is a really good source of electricity, and it is dishonest to claim that "the NECEC is power going to MA". It is allowing MA to purchase the Hydro Quebec power, but it feeds the New England grid, and ultimately will lower electric rates and allow us NOT to blast mountain tops and put unreliable bird blenders up. Shame on Tom Saviello. 

Comment by Willem Post on June 28, 2021 at 5:43pm

HIGH COSTS OF WIND, SOLAR, AND BATTERY SYSTEMS IN NEW ENGLAND

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/high-costs-of-wind-sol...

Energy Action Network: EAN, prepared a report listing the measures required to “meet Paris by 2025”. That goal is mandated by the Global Warming “Solutions” Act, GWSA, and in accordance with the VT Comprehensive Energy Plan.
https://www.eanvt.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/EAN-APR2020-21_finalJune2.pdf

 

EAN claims, without providing calculations, replacing 90,000 vehicles of the VT LDV mix, with 90,000 EVs would reduce CO2 by 0.405 million metric ton/y, or 4.5 Mt/EV/y, tail-pipe basis. See page 4 of URL

https://www.eanvt.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/EAN-report-2020-final.pdf

 

VT-DPS artificially reduced the CO2 of the VT electrical sector from 1,000,000; 810,000; 490,000; 190,000; and 130,000 Mt, for 2015 through 2019.  

 

These values are almost entirely based on “paper” power purchase agreements, PPAs, VT utilities are required to have with in-state and out-of-state power generators. If utilities did not have such PPAs, they would be stealing!

 

VT utilities physically draw about 95% of their 6.0 billion electricity supply from the VT/NE high voltage grid; the remaining 5% is fed to distribution grids, such as rooftop solar. About 5.6 billion kWh arrives at user meters, a distribution loss of 6.7%

VT-DPS-calculated CO2 emissions for 2019 = 130,000 Mt/y / 5.6 billion kWh/y = 23 g CO2/kWh, fed-to-user-meter basis. See Notes

 

ISO-NE monitors/records these draws on a real-time basis, and apportions the draws according to the provisions of the PPAs.

 

GMP had a PPA for 30.8% of its supply, at 4 c/kWh, with Seabrook Nuclear plant in 2020

ISO-NE allocates 30.8% of the GMP draw to Seabrook, which gets paid accordingly.

The same with the 55.4% of “Large Hydro” at 5.6 c/kWh, which is mostly Hydro-Quebec.

It is called “Settlement Process”; every grid has such a process to pay electricity producers connected to the grid.

https://greenmountainpower.com/energy-mix/

 

Conveniently, VT-DPS declared nuclear, hydro, wind, solar, biomass, farm methane, etc., as having zero CO2 emissions, for bookkeeping purposes. The physical reality is quite different, according to 100% of realistic scientists and engineers.

 

Accordingly, GMP can claim to be “95% CO2-free”, because it signed “paper” PPAs to buy more nuclear, etc.

GMP does not have to invest one dime to comply with “being politically green”.

Legislators know it, and encourage it with subsidies. See URLs
https://dec.vermont.gov/sites/dec/files/aqc/climate-change/documents/_Vermont_Greenhouse_Gas_Emissions_Inventory_Update_1990-2017_Final.pdf

 

NOTE: Electricity travels, as electromagnetic waves, at near the speed mpg light, i.e., about 1800 mile in 0.01 second, i.e., from northern Maine too southern Florida in 0.01 second! The electrons largely vibrate in place at 60 cycles per second. It is pure nonsense to talk of a “Vermont Energy mix”, or a “New Hampshire energy mix”, or to use a “paper PPA energy mix”.

 

https://vermontbiz.com/news/2021/may/20/vermont-makes-progress-carbon-reduction-new-state-report
https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/poor-economics-of-electric-vehicles-in-new-englan

 

NOTE: ISO-NE-calculated CO2 emissions for 2019 = (30.997 million US ton, from emissions report x 2000lb/US ton x 454 g/lb)/ (97,853000 MWh, from epa report/1000 kWh/MWh) = 288 g/kWh, fed-to-grid basis, or 288/0.908 = 317 g/kWh, fed-to-user-meter basis, if total loss = ISO-NE, 2.5% + Distribution, 6.7% = 9.2%.

 

https://www.iso-ne.com/static-assets/documents/2021/03/2019_air_emissions_report.pdf

https://www3.epa.gov/region1/npdes/merrimackstation/pdfs/ar/AR-1744.pdf

 

Since 2004, lower-priced electricity from outside New England has increasingly flowed in to serve NE demand, much of it from Canadian hydropower. This external generation doesn’t count toward NE CO2 emissions. See URL

https://www.iso-ne.com/about/key-stats/air-emissions

Comment by Dan McKay on June 28, 2021 at 10:58am

Willem,

Keep your eye on the ISO-NE Interconnection Queue and the Maine Class I and Class IA renewable certification applications. They are about to explode with wind/solar projects from Northern Maine and Canada. 
Comment by Willem Post on June 28, 2021 at 10:40am

HIGH COSTS OF WIND, SOLAR, AND BATTERY SYSTEMS IN NEW ENGLAND

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/high-costs-of-wind-sol...

Maine Offshore Wind Turbine Systems are Dead

 

The ocean waters near Maine are deep. Almost all offshore wind turbines would need to be floating units, anchored at the seafloor with at least 3 long cables.

The 700-ft tall wind turbines would need to be located at least 25 miles from any inhabited islands, to reduce the visuals, especially with strobe lights, 24/7/365

The wind turbines would be far from major electricity demand centers, such as Montreal and Boston.

Transmission systems would be required to connect the wind turbines to demand centers

All that would make the cost of electricity produced by these wind turbines more expensive than those south of MVI.

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/deep-water-floating-off...

 

Maine is Desperate to Stay in the Wind Turbine Business

 

Maine wind/solar bureaucrats likely are in active discussions with stakeholders to add 751 MW of onshore wind turbines.

Maine wind/solar bureaucrats are not in active discussions with stakeholders to add offshore wind turbines, as shown by the interconnection proposals on page 13 of URL

https://nepool.com/uploads/NPC_20200305_Composite4.pdf

Comment by Dan McKay on June 28, 2021 at 9:00am

If Southern New England wants renewables, LD 1710 along with Emera's Atlantic Link Project could send thousands of megawatts right to their doorsteps, while Maine purchases the required Renewable Energy Credits to obtain 100% clean energy the government so craves. Once having obtained 100%, satisfying the government's quest, retire the program and return Maine ratepayers purchases into this stupid program

 

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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 -- Mahatma Gandhi

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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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