Mass Offshore Wind Cables Harbinger To Maine Residents

Massachusetts Offshore Wind Cables Harbinger To Maine Residents 
 
The Town of Falmouth, Massachusetts has been in negotiations with an offshore wind turbine company to place 1200 megawatts of onshore buried electric cables at up to 345,000 volts through residential locations. In comparison, Pilgrim Nuclear Plant produced 680 megawatts. 
 
The proposed onshore buried cables are a commercial and/or industrial application. It is ludicrous to call the project residential.      

 
The Town of Falmouth per bylaw 240-14 is divided into types of basic zoning districts. The proposed location of offshore wind turbine cables that travel through residential neighborhoods are classified as "Single Residence Districts" or "General Residential Districts."

 
Thousands of homeowners in or near Falmouth Heights bought in good faith that they were in residentially zoned locations. There is nowhere in the United States where buried cables at 1200 megawatts were installed in an established residential community.
 
The wind energy system zoning bylaw 240-166 defines wind turbines as: "All equipment, machinery, and structures utilized in connection with the conversion of wind to electricity. This includes, but is not limited to, transmission, storage equipment, substations, transformers, service and access roads, and one or more wind turbines."
The high voltage commercial electric two-year project through Falmouth devalues homes, affects business, traffic, tourism, and raises levels of electric magnetic fields to save the wind company money. Studies showing a correlation between childhood Leukemia incidence and high voltage lines are being ignored.
 
Like the two unpermitted shut down town-owned wind turbines, this is another political agenda by Beacon Hill to take residential property rights. The two town turbines are still involved in engineering and bids to remove them since 2010 and 2012.
 
Town Meeting Members will be asked again to approve another wind turbine project by a 2/3 vote. 
 
Falmouth residents who value intellectual honesty should not quietly be fleeced by such mendacity, even from government officials.
 
The only option is to run the cables in the ocean to the designated cities and avoid residential locations.

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Comment by Frank Haggerty on January 8, 2022 at 7:50am

Falmouth Massachusetts Onshore Wind Cables Home Rule & Chapter 40A

Bylaws for public health, safety, and welfare

 
January 8, 2022
https://renewable2162.wordpress.com/2022/01/08/falmouth-massachuset...
Falmouth, Massachusetts is ground zero for the worst siting of two town-owned commercial wind turbines in the United States, and still, the Massachusetts legislature and governor continues to ignore health and safety for an agenda gone horribly wrong now ignoring Home Rule.
Massachusetts state government is in the process of ignoring the Town of Falmouth local zoning bylaws to install onshore wind turbine buried cables up to 1200 megawatts and 345,000 volts through residentially zoned neighborhoods. 
The Home Rule Amendment–Article 89 of the state Constitution–says that its purpose is to “grant and confirm to the people of every city and town the right of self-governance in local matters.”
https://www.mma.org/resource/home-rule-amendment/
———————————————————————————————————-
Note # 
Municipal land regulations use usually take the form of zoning ordinances and by-laws. Prior to the Home Rule Amendment, the status of these ordinances and by-laws was clear: municipal zoning was an exercise of the state power delegated to localities by Chapter 40A.

Thus the passage of the Home Rule Amendment, the legal foundation of a municipality’s powers over land use is broader. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has recognized land use regulations to be a part of a municipality’s general home rule authority. That authority does not depend on power being delegated by the state. 
Zoning regulations are a town’s independent municipal powers included in article 89, section 6’s (Home Rule Amendment) broad grant of powers to adopt ordinances or bylaws for the protection of public health, safety, and welfare.Section 6 enables cities and towns to exercise their home rule power only to the extent their actions are not inconsistent with the state constitution or laws
Comment by Willem Post on January 8, 2022 at 7:38am

MAKE NEW ENGLAND GREAT AGAIN

THIS SIMILAR TO DEFORESTATION OF THE 1800s, but nothing grows back for at least 25 years!!!

Comment by Willem Post on January 4, 2022 at 8:58pm

Frank,

That magnetic flux intensity, micro Tesla, is very low. 
Likely would have no harmful effects, unless you sleep on top of the line every day.

It would be instructive to google magnetic flux intensity in the work place, such a a plane cockpit, etc.

Comment by Willem Post on January 4, 2022 at 10:32am

PLAYING RUSSIAN ROULETTE WITH RELIABLE ELECTRICITY SERVICE IN NEW ENGLAND  

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

 

New England experienced an unusual cold spell from December 24, 2017 – January 8, 2018

The image was created by the New England electric system operator, ISO-NE.

 

Offshore Wind Systems

 

Denmark

 installed the first offshore wind system in 1983; Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, etc., followed.

National grids were connected with high-voltage DC lines. Electricity is distributed/curtailed, during high winds, as needed.

European companies have installed more than 25,000 MW of offshore wind systems (the US has 35 MW) during the past 40 years, about 1,000 MW/y during recent years.

 

Massachusetts, Connecticut

It took several years for Massachusetts and Connecticut to sign contracts with EU/US wind consortia for about 1,000 MW of NE offshore wind systems

Almost all of the NE offshore wind systems would be supplied and installed by European companies, during the next 20 years. 

See Appendix

 

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/having-fun-watching-wi...

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

 

Maine

Maine RE folks have a goal to install hundreds of 12 MW, 850-ft-high, offshore FLOATING wind turbines.

However, that approach would be much more expensive per MW, than normal offshore wind systems, and would require major extension/augmentation of the NE grid.

 

At present, there are no major wind companies with any experience, other than minor experience by Norway having a demonstration system off the coast of Scotland.

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

 

 

Exorbitant “All-in” Electricity Cost of Wind and Solar in New England

 

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

http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/cost-shifting-is-the-na...

 

Pro RE folks always point to the “price paid to owner” as the cost of wind and solar, purposely ignoring the other cost categories. The all-in cost of wind and solar, c/kWh, includes:

 

1) Above-market-price paid to Owners 

2) Subsidies paid to Owners

3) Owner return on invested capital at about 9%/y

4) Grid extension/augmentation

5) Grid support services

6) Future battery systems

 

Comments on table 5

   

- Vermont legacy SO solar systems had greater subsidies, up to 30 c/kWh paid to owner, than newer systems, about 11 c/kWh

 

- Wind prices paid to owner did not have the drastic reductions as solar prices.

 

- Vermont utilities are paid about 3.5 c/kWh for various costs they incur regarding net-metered solar systems

 

- "Added to the rate base" is the cost wind and solar are added to the utility rate base, used to set electric rates.

 

- “Total cost”, including subsidies to owner and grid support, is the cost at which wind/solar are added to the utility rate base

 

- “NE utility cost” is the annual average cost of purchased electricity, about 6 c/kWh, plus NE grid operator charges, about 1.6 c/kWh

for a total of 7.6 c/kWh.

 

- “Grid support costs” would increase with increased use of battery systems to counteract the variability and intermittency of increased build-outs of wind and solar systems.

 

NOTES:

1) NE wholesale grid price averaged about 5 c/kWh or less, starting in 2009, due to low-cost CCGT and nuclear plants providing at least 65% of all electricity loaded onto the NE grid, in 2019.

 

- Wind, solar, landfill gas, and methane power plants provided about 4.8%

- Pre-existing refuse and wood power plants provided about 4.6%

- Pre-existing hydro power plants provided about 7.4%

- The rest was mostly hydro imports from the very-low-CO2 Canada grid, and from the much-higher-CO2 New York State grid

 

https://www.iso-ne.com/about/key-stats/resource-mix/

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


2) There are Owning costs, and Operating and Maintenance costs, of the NE grid

ISO-NE charges these costs to utilities at about 1.6 c/kWh.

 

3) ISO-NE charges are for: 

 
Regional network services, RNS, based on the utility peak demand occurring during a month

Forward capacity market, FCM, based on the utility peak demand occurring during a year.

 

Table 5/VT & NE sources

Paid to

Subsidy

Grid

GMP

 Added

ISO-NE

Total

NE

Times

 

 

paid to

support

 

to rate

RNS+

 

utility

 

owner

towner

cost

adder

base

FCM

cost

cost

c/kWh

c/kWh

c/kWh

c/kWh

c/kWh

c/kWh

c/kWh

c/kWh

Solar, rooftop, net-metered, new

17.4

5.2

2.1

3.5

20.9

1.6

29.8

7.6

3.92

Solar, rooftop, net-metered, legacy

18.2

5.4

2.1

3.5

21.7

1.6

30.8

7.6

4.05

Solar, standard offer, combo

11.0

6.74

2.1

11.0

1.6

21.44

7.6

2.82

Solar, standard offer, legacy

21.7

10.5

2.1

21.7

1.6

35.9

7.6

4.72

Wind, ridge line, new

9.0

4.1

2.4

9.0

1.6

17.1

7.6

2.25

Wind, offshore, new

12.1

5.4

2.8

12.1

1.6

21.9

7.6

2.88

 

Sample calculation; NE utility cost = 6, Purchased + 1.6, (RNS + FCM) = 7.6 c/kWh

Sample calculation; added to utility base = 17.4 + 3.5 = 20.9 c/kWh

Sample calculation; total cost = 17.4 + 5.2 + 2.1 + 3.5 + 1.6 = 29.8 c/kWh

 

Excludes costs for very expensive battery systems

Excludes costs for very expensive floating, offshore wind systems

Excludes cost for dealing with shortfalls during multi-day wind/solar lulls. See URL

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

 

“Added to rate base” is for recent 20-y electricity supply contracts awarded by competitive bidding in NE.

“Added to rate base” would be much higher without subsidies and cost shifting.

Areas with better wind and solar conditions, and lower construction costs/MW have lower c/MWh, than NE

 

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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