Posted on 04/04/2009 8:08:08 AM PDT by reaganaut1
A consortium of private investors that sought to build high-voltage electricity transmission lines to carry power from renewable sources upstate to New York City said on Friday that it was suspending its efforts.
The consortium, New York Regional Interconnect, cited a ruling made on Tuesday by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Washington upholding a review process that demands that each such project be subject to a cost-benefit analysis and receive the support of 80 percent of the beneficiaries.
Regional Interconnect said it interpreted the decision as giving its main competitor, Con Edison, which purchases almost all of the electricity for New York City, the power to approve or block the project.
The consortium called the review process anticompetitive and said it would not resume attempts to build the power lines unless the regulatory environment changed.
“We were shocked because the rhetoric from Washington and Albany is all about improving our infrastructure to deliver energy coming from renewable sources to high-load areas,” said Chris Thompson, president of New York Regional Interconnect. “And this is what our project did.”
Mary O’Driscoll, a spokeswoman for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said it had determined that the current regulatory process was “reasonable” and “not biased.”
Con Edison had complained that Regional Interconnect’s plan was not cost-effective. “We have to buy electricity, and we didn’t think it was the best deal for our consumers,” said Chris Olert, a Con Ed spokesman.
In New York State, as in many other regions of the country, prime locations for renewable energy sources like wind and hydropower are far from population centers. Regional Interconnect had promised to invest $2 billion in private money to build a new power grid, parallel to the existing grid, to bring additional electricity to the city.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I wonder if Obama's "Katrina moment" will be blackouts caused by his (anti-)energy policies, as happened in California.
Time to tar and feather the idiots in these agencies and deport them.
I’m thinking I’m with Con Edison on this ... they are at the sticky end of the stick. Consider thi shypothetical example: a group jumps on the green bandwagon, invests a ton of money to build a green transmission line between an unwilling customer and a hodgepodge of green generation sources. It doesn’t matter whether the generators are efficient or if the transmission scheme is cost-effective - it’s green!!! Con Ed will be forced to take and resell the power, pro’ly be forced to assume for planning purposes a higher reliability of supply that is actually available - wouldn’t want to hurt the green generator’s feelings, don’tcha know - and hit Con Ed’s customers with high-priced juice and brownouts. Con Ed realizes they are the pivot man here.
It's not going to come. That's the whole point of the environmental movement - return to the stone age so that everybody will be EQUALLY miserable.
He was shocked, shocked(!) to discover that we have a government of liars and thieves.
Although I do like the idea of utilities rejecting mandates to purchase overly-expensive power for their consumers...
Oh come on. Don’t you see the pattern yet.
Every time the private sector figures out how to cope with government stupidity, a new barrier is erected.
Consider:
1) Windmills off of Mass - nope, wrecks the view
2) Solar in the Mojave - nope, must protect 2 million acres
3) Power lines for hydro - nope, not in my back yard
It’s amazing how many people DON’T realize that today’s DEMOCRATS simply want to send us back to the STONE AGE.
That’s all there is to it - really simple.
- Traveler
Remember how Ma bell was forced to allow the cable companies to use their utility poles?,bet the courts do the same to Con Edison.
On the other hand, I own a mountain in Herkimer that I would be more than happy to rent to some idiot with a windmill.
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