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Western Maine wind line near Roxbury approved

The Associated Press
River Valley |
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 12:12 pm

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Maine utility regulators have approved a plan to upgrade a power line that will carry electricity produced at a wind-power facility under construction near Rumford.

The Public Utilities Commission voted Tuesday to grant conditional approval to Central Maine Power to upgrade its line near Roxbury. The $13.5 million upgrade is needed to connect the proposed Record Hill wind farm to CMP's electric transmission system.

The PUC's conditions include a requirement that Record Hill Wind LLC make a three-month prepayment to CMP of all construction costs, and quarterly reports to the commission monitoring project progress.

Approval allows CMP to replace an existing 34.5-kilovolt line from Rumford to Roxbury with a larger 115-kilovolt transmission line.

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candiceanne's picture

Catagory 6 Day of Destruction

By candiceanne, unverified — Sat, 09/04/2010 - 22:37

I love that line," first world nation with a third world power grid," CommonSense. It was spoken by the Secretary of Energy in the movie Catagory 6 Day of Destruction and a movie on power very relevent to the arguement. It is one of my favorite lines in discussing Maine's power distribution network, the country's for that matter. I agree with you completely, it is about time we started moving forward on correcting the deficiencies. I also agree completely that it is essential to do so if Maine is to have any hope for economic development.

Karen, I am concerned that you a putting your eggs in the Canadian hydropower basket should Maine have an increased power need. First I wonder what assurance there is that Canada will have the power available when and if it is needed and not be consuming it themselves. More importantly, without the upgrades to the grid how do you expect it to be transmitted?

I also have to disagree with you on your claim of the exhorbitant cost of wind power. Aside from my distrust in the price and availability of Canadian hydropower, (supply and demand dictate price) I anticipate radical increases in power produced via coal, gas and oil facilities both new and existing as the result of the Waxman Markey Act. I will attempt to explain Waxman Markey. Suppose you are a building contractor and in order to build homes you must purchase a license annually for $150 and you build 100 homes per year. This means the license cost ($150) divided by the annual number of homes built (100) adds $1.50 to your cost of each ome you build. That isn't much and you probably are not going to give it any thought when you calculate your bids. Now suppose the price of that license jumps to $150,000 a year. That would add $15,000 to the cost of each house you build and you are definitely going to be adding that into your bid increasing your bid by atleast $15,000, which is way more than you can absorb.

Waxman Markey creates greenhouse gas emission permits. These permits will be required to operate biomass, gas, oil, and coal burning powerlants, many industrial operations, hospital, business complexes, and much more. Eighty percent (80%) of the permits will be given, free of charge to existing operations which is great news for existing operations that wll require them and fantastic news for existing energy producers whose means of production, i.e. biomass, coal, gas and oil require these permits and here is why. Lets use the gas fired power plant in Rumford for our example. This is an existing faciliy so it will receive it's permit free from the government: free to them, but it wont be free to the consumers of the power and here is how. Every new plant will have to one of the remaining 20% permits and the price will be "fair market value" which is expected to be into the millions if not billions of dollars Like the contractor who has to buy a license to build houses the cost of the permit will have to be passed on, in this case to consumers in the form of rates. Now the Rumford plant did not pay for their permit but it still has the same value, they could after all sell it for those same millions or billions of dollars so the PUC is going to let them pass that "expense" on to all we rate payers in the form of higher per kilowatt rates even though they didn't hand over 1 red cent for that permit. This is added icing on their cake, nothing but profit, but for the producer that had to pay for the permit it is deterent to building which further adds to cost. Remember, supply and demand effect price and so if plants aren't being built because of the cost of or lack of availability of permits price rises.

Enter wind turbines and other zero emmission power generating sources. Since wind turbines do not produce greenhouse gases, no permit is required under Waxman Markey and therefore the price is not inflated by the adding in of the fair market value of the free permit or a purchased permit. The more power that can be produced by zero emission, no permit required sources, (increased supply) the lower the average per kilowatt price will be as demand remains stable or increases, with less coming from expensive permit requiring sources. In reality the generators receiving subsidies are the greenhouse gas emitters such as biomass, gas, coal, and oil plants who are in the pool receiving one of the free permits (80%) .

Karen, in your comment, you suggested to CommonSense that it would be wiser to divert the billions of dollars being spent to construct wind turbines to make Maine's aging housing stock more energy efficient. You state that by doing diverting this money to the existing housing it would be a "win-win-win" as builders, plumbers and electricians would be put to work. Karen much of Maine's existing housing stock does not need to be made more energy efficient, it needs a bulldozer. There are entire city blocks throughout the state of vacant buildings that are not fit for human habitation, many inhabited buildings that are not fit either. Maine has a major excess of residential and commercial space. The ellimination of the unsafe, inefficient and delapidated would greatly improve the overall value, and quality of place. As demand increases the housing would be replaced with modern quality housing and commercial space.

TIF stands for Tax Increment Funding. TIFs are a tool used by municipalities and carefully regulated by the state and county in which they are established. TIFs are generally established not for an individual business but for a district and there are limits on what percentage of a municipalities valuation can be included within a TIF. TIFs are not for the purpose of compensating for utility costs. Two examples of a TIFs that I am currently involved in investigating with a local community's economic development committee should help clarify TIFs and how they work.

The community owns an industrial/business park that has not seen much activity though it has had the roads and utilities, even a spec building in for many years. This same community has a city block that enjoys high traffic volume and is adjacent to a major retail business. The block however s comprised largely of derelict buildings.The community has been hard hit economically for decades and is ramping up a number of marketing activities and projects including the demotion of some buildings on the derelict block and establishing TIFs to encompass both the industrial/business park and the derelict block. The TIFs would encourage potential developers of the industrial/business park to purchase lots, build and establish businesses with workers. The town would write off taxes on the land, building, and equipment to some degree for a period of time in order to establish a larger tax base and bring in thejobs. In the case of the derelect block, the town looks to have one or more developers remove the derelict buildings, construct retail and general commercial space which would than be occupied, again providing jobs. The community feels that what will be gained for the increased employment exceeds the temporary sacrafice in tax revenue. Enterprises like TIFs because they allow them to reduce their fixed costs which also helps in developing a business plan and the lower expense makes their applications more favorable to lenders.

Since the communities are stricktly limited on how much of their total valuation can be included in TIF, wind turbine projects are not likely candidates for TIFs since the value of the project is so high it would likely consume all of a community's if not all of a county's allowable TIF allotment. Since communities and counties are looking to maximize TIF for jobs they are not going to use them on highend projects with limited employee return.

There is much that needs to be done in the area of the high cost of doing business in Maine and I, other commentors and SJ have discussed many of them. Taxes are of course an issue. Excessive regulation which is not always what you might consider regulation but may simply be, as SJ recently reported, requiring an event be reported in six different reports to six different agencies none of which is ever looked at but just stuffed in a closet. Redundant or contradictory legislation is a business killer. Long drawn out approval processes are business killers. These and many more are prevelant incumbrances to businesses entering and expanding in Maine.

For Rumford Native, I came to Rumford with a philanthropic mission in June 2009 having made a 1 year commitment. I have extended that obviously. I am working with the Selectmen and Economic Development Committee, the Strathglass Park Preservation Society and Hancock/Waldo/Cumberland/Falmouth Neighborhood among others to bring about improvements in quality of life and place and economic development in Rumford. Rumford and Maine did not get in this condition overnight and it will not get fixed overnight. It is going to take hardwork from all citizens and most importantly changes in expectations and behaviors to bring about improvement.

I don't know where you live, Rumford Native, or what you do, but how about taking a few hours out of your busy schedule each week and pick up litter along the streets and the dog feces left by the disrespectful pet owners, (I do both of these daily) volunteer at the library or parks department. Help your elderly neighbor with mowing and other yard and fix-it chores to spruce up. Form a neighborhood association. Get a group together to clean up the river banks. There is so much you can do to improve the quality of place and make Rumford more attractive and likely to be chosen by potential employers as a location not to mention help retain existing businesses.

rumford native's picture

CommonSense or NonSense

By rumford native, unverified — Thu, 09/02/2010 - 14:41

CommonSense,first off, your nom de plum is a misnomer if I ever saw one. Let’s start with “This article is about new higher capacity lines for the grid, not construction of turbines.” That statement does not reflect common sense. You should change your nom de plume to ‘NonSense.’ It would much better reflect your statements.

Ex-Gov. King stated at a utility meeting that Record Hill Wind will pay CMP $15 million for the cost of the new grid. Can your “common sense” explain why? Is this a grant from a king’s charitable trust? Maybe it’s needed for the Roxbury Falls hydro project that will encourage General Motors to build an auto factory in the Swift River Valley? As for job creation, let’s stick with windmills, not pie-in-the-sky businesses moving in. Please state the number of permanent jobs to be created by these automated windmills in Roxbury and back them up with real facts.

Sorry if Karen’s sober, factual assessment left you lost for a factual rebuttal. Of course ‘NonSense’ doesn’t allow pesky facts to get in the way. We all wish you the best, and if you work for the wind industry that you don’t lose your job.

gempaint's picture
verified

transmission line for wind

By Alice Barnett, verified user — Wed, 09/01/2010 - 09:54

it is not about upgrades. Record Hill is almost under construction for wind turbines, but not yet...company ran out of money. Unless they get yet another loan from our government, they can not go forward. Maybe PUC is sealing the future for no transmissionn line in Roxbury by making Wind company pay up front.
Karen, keep writing. we are reading.

Blockhead 2's picture

Losing it

By Blockhead 2, unverified — Tue, 08/31/2010 - 16:48

Have I lost it or was the upgrade of the transmission lines about improving an outdated grid to improve electrical service to Maine consumers as recently as a few months ago? When exactly did they reveal the fact that it is actually for facilitating industrial wind transmission as some people were claiming all along? Please tell me if I am wrong. Thank you!

CommonSense's picture

We Gain, Record Hill Pays!

By CommonSense, unverified — Tue, 08/31/2010 - 17:35

It is to upgrade the transmission lines and it will improve the grid for electrical service to maine consumers. The bonus is that since Record Hill will be sending power through the lines into the grid at this point, they are picking up a big part of the tab which means CMP customers are not! That is a good thing.

Karen Pease's picture
verified

Getting smart...

By Karen Pease, verified user — Tue, 08/31/2010 - 15:11

Hi, CommonSense. :o)

I 'hear' your frustration, and I understand it. But there are several things which must be taken into account when considering wind generated power-- one of which is its exhorbitant cost... Wind power is many times more expensive that renewable hydro power which we could purchase from Canada--if, in fact, we needed additional electricity. Currently, Maine does not. I do not believe manufacturers or retailers will move to Maine if they are forced to pay for super-expensive electricity. That has been a sticking point in the past, and is one of the reasons towns occasionally offer TIFs-- because they hope to entice companies which cannot afford the high cost of doing business in Maine. Industrial wind power and new transmission corridors will not help lure businesses...not from an economical standpoint, and probably not from a 'quality of place' perspective, either..

In addition, if jobs are a concern of yours, wouldn't it be much, much wiser to take the billions of dollars which the government is prepared to hand out to wind developers and use those tax-payer subsidies to make Maine's aging housing stock more efficient? Hundreds of builders, electricians and plumbers would have jobs if we concentrated on conservation... we would have a win-win-win situation. Mainers put to work. Less fossil fuels burned to heat our homes (thereby reducing pollution, AND our dependence on foreign oil). And a unique environment kept safe from high voltage transmission corridors with their attendant Electro-Magnetic Fields, and high-mountain terrain protected from erosion, herbicides, fragmented wildlife habitat, and potential water quality issues.

I'd love to speak with you in more depth, if you truly have concern about this issue. Feel free to contact me at highlandmts@gmail.com

Respectfully,
Karen Pease
Lexington Twp., Maine

CommonSense's picture

Karen do you ever get out of the Anti-wind vortex?

By CommonSense, unverified — Tue, 08/31/2010 - 17:29

Karen do you ever get out of the anti-wind vortex you have been sucked into? This article is about new higher capacity lines for the grid not construction of wind turbines. I know you can not talk about wind power with knowledge, facts, honesty, and integrity, I wouldn't even ask that of you if the article were on wind turbines. Your history of comments on the subject tells me you can not do it. This one is not on your pet subject. Can we stay on topic, please?

CommonSense's picture

It is about time we started

By CommonSense, unverified — Tue, 08/31/2010 - 12:36

It is about time we started moving forward from a first world nation with a third world power grid even if Maine has blocked every opportunity at economic development. Maybe if we have the ability to move the necessary power and a major manufacturer is looking for a home they will consider Maine and Maine will get smart and say yes to jobs for a change.

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