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… Replacing Efficient Energy with Renewables?
Francis Menton has long warned that there is no demonstrated workable replacement for fossil fuels other than nuclear. But thousands of bureaucrats are committed to the goal of eliminating fossil fuels, he adds in the Manhattan Contrarian, most of whom, he writes, are set against nuclear.
Apparently, some Massachusetts jurisdictions are seeking to replace fossil fuels and/or nuclear plants with wind power. But there are difficulties arising. It seems that the costs and benefits may not have been adequately considered.
The WSJ’s James Freeman reports on Colin Young of State House News Service:
Commonwealth Wind and Mayflower Wind each have until the middle of this week to tell the Department of Public Utilities whether they will move forward with their latest offshore wind projects under the contract terms they have already agreed to or ask state regulators to no longer consider those essential agreements.
In a decision issued late Friday, the DPU took issue with the argument from Avangrid Renewables that its 1,200 megawatt Commonwealth Wind project is “no longer viable and would not be able to move forward” without changes to the contracts between the developer and Bay State utility companies. These changes… would likely delay the wind farm’s launch date and make its power more expensive.
Mayflower Wind, the other developer tapped last year to help Massachusetts plug into offshore wind power, supported the Commonwealth Wind’s request for a month-long pause in the review of the projects’ power purchase agreements (PPAs). The utilities buying the power said they don’t plan to renegotiate.
Not Economically Workable?
Hmm, muses Mr. Freeman, is that so? Utilities don’t want to buy power at the price that these offshore wind farmers may need to be economically viable, and therefore some wind farms might not be built at all?
What will this mean for Massachusetts, which is relying on offshore wind power generation to be a major contributor to its decarbonization goals over the next three decades, not to mention billions of dollars in projected savings for electricity customers?
But Wait, There’s More
There have been challenges and setbacks nearly every step of the way, the latest of which threatens the largest single project in the state’s pipeline…
Colin Young notes that the regulators appeared peeved Friday that Commonwealth Wind had waited so long to formally notify the state of potentially fatal changes to the project’s outlook.
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