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 by Dan McKay on October 27, 2022 at 4:18pm

Does the PUC have any clue about how corrupt they look by keeping information from the ratepayers? This agency needs to be restructured, to not only be transparent, but to have the highest regard for the ratepayers, residential, small commercial and industrial. Reveal the costs to each of these categories, PUC or have hell on Earth released upon you.  

Comment by Penny Gray on October 27, 2022 at 3:26pm

Thank you, Dan.  Where are all the environmentalists who thought the  NECEC corridor would destroy Maine's woods, waters and wildlife?  I guess they don't realize Maine extends north of Bangor.

Comment by Dan McKay on October 27, 2022 at 6:38am

Does Bartlett consider the present New England wholesale price of $90+ per megawatt- hour as the benchmark of competitive pricing? Once natural gas supply catches up with demand, wholesale prices will recede to $26 per MW-HR (the actual benchmark) I'm sure Bartlett will do all he can to keep wholesale prices high to keep wind market competitive

Comment by Dan McKay on October 27, 2022 at 6:28am

The "Big Plan" as Bartlett presents it, is to pressure natural gas generation with more wind generation while ISO-NE incentivizes natural gas plants with out of market payoffs to save the region from blackouts. Dual fueled plants (gas and oil) are paid to store oil for winter months. LNG shipments paid to unload at natural gas plants in Massachusetts. Every state/country that has exceeded 15 % of total in-state generation with wind has incurred skyrocketing electric prices and an unstable grid. Think Germany, for one. 

Comment by Dan McKay on October 27, 2022 at 6:11am

Remember, every Maine legislator sat quietly and numb as Fetterman while this billion-dollar debacle was hammered through the state government, signed by you know who. And you won't hear a peep out of any of the candidates looking for your vote November 8, who care less that the people they represent are about to be RAPED.

Comment by Dan McKay on October 27, 2022 at 6:05am

Janet Mills, do you have an extra Billion dollars from the 4.5-billion-dollar Rescue Act money, or do you plan to dangle another 90 dollars in the face of the ratepayers?

Comment by Dan McKay on October 27, 2022 at 6:01am

After NECEC, what makes anyone think Massachusetts is going to bail Maine out of this billion-dollar money pit? 

Comment by Dan McKay on October 27, 2022 at 5:55am

Here is your wake-up call, Northern Maine, Get ready for 30 cents per kilowatt-hour electricity. Welcome to the ISO-NE market. 

Comment by Dan McKay on October 27, 2022 at 5:52am

This doesn't happen with LePage as Governor. He halted the overpriced Aqua Ventus project, and he would halt this monstrosity.

Comment by Dan McKay on October 27, 2022 at 5:49am

Tom Saviello, where are you?

 

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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