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On the Cusp of a Natural Gas Bonanza, Massachusetts Bets on Wind Power
American Thinker ^ | 02/23/2012 | Peter Wilson

Posted on 02/24/2012 6:10:04 AM PST by SeekAndFind

You'd have to be a dim bulb -- perhaps one of those 13-watt compact fluorescents -- to believe that forcing utilities to purchase expensive offshore wind power will lead to economic prosperity. Yet this is precisely the reaction of the Boston press to a recent deal brokered by Gov. Deval Patrick.

Gov. Patrick has been in a bind. With the Green Communities Act of 2008, the state legislature enacted a clean energy mandate requiring that 20% of Massachusetts' power come from renewable sources by 2025, joining 36 other states with "Renewable Portfolio Standards."

Renewable energy, however, is expensive and especially hard to find in New England, and most voters don't like paying high prices for green electricity that behaves exactly like cheap electricity from natural gas or coal. Patrick no doubt fears that the clean energy bandwagon could roll backwards and crush his re-election chances. A proposed merger between two local utilities, NStar and Northeast Utilities of Connecticut, gave Patrick the opportunity to put together a clever plan. His administration approved the $17.5-billion deal on two conditions: the new utility company must purchase 27.5% of the output of Cape Wind, the controversial offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound. Secondly, the utility must freeze its rates for the next four years, and distribute a one-time rebate of $21 million to customers.

George Bachrach, the president of the Environmental League of Massachusetts, wrote in the Globe: "The Patrick administration deserves great credit for negotiating the recent merger agreement with NStar that will both protect ratepayers and make Cape Wind a reality." A Boston Globe editorial titled "NStar deal, rise of Cape Wind will boost state's economy" had similar praise.

It would appear that the state gets green energy to satisfy the Renewable Portfolio Standard,

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: environmentalism; massachusetts; naturalgas; windpower

1 posted on 02/24/2012 6:10:10 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Dumb masses.


2 posted on 02/24/2012 6:19:59 AM PST by crosshairs (Liberalism is to truth, what east is to west.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Wind in isolated areas may make sense...but setting up in the rivers and lakes and oceans is ridiculous.

We have a little Plaza with a windmill..in a nearby country town. It sits on the edge of the major highway. THAT makes sense...it serves that little development.

We can buy wind energy here...if you want to add the FEE to your utility bill every month.

3 posted on 02/24/2012 6:21:16 AM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: SeekAndFind

Yep, those Liberal dopes are the smartest people on the planet. They pride themselves on going to the best universities, but they can’t think their way out of a paper bag. Their religion of earth worship simply blinds them to even the most common of horse sense.


4 posted on 02/24/2012 6:21:55 AM PST by Obadiah (Why do they put Braille dots on the keypad of the drive-up ATMs?)
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To: SeekAndFind

If ‘renewable’ is so important, then how come the greenies want to replace paper towels with electric hand dryers in restrooms?


5 posted on 02/24/2012 6:23:25 AM PST by sportutegrl
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To: crosshairs

You know what? That’s pretty funny. I’m sure I’m way behind but first time I’ve seen that. Thanks for the laugh.


6 posted on 02/24/2012 6:24:49 AM PST by VaRepublican (I would propagate taglines but I don't know how. But bloggers do.)
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To: SeekAndFind

MA is probably hedging its bet with whale oil futures.


7 posted on 02/24/2012 6:31:06 AM PST by RatRipper (I'll ride a turtle to work every day before I buy anything from Government Motors.)
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To: SeekAndFind
economic prosperity= follow the money

Kinda like Solyndra created economic prosperity
for the 1%

GE will make the wind turbines in China
hundreds or thousands of staff will “consult” about wind power under corporations funded by DOE grants and "loans" and taxpayer subsidies, all enriching cronies and donors of obama

Certain Massachusetts property speculators will reap big gains from gov use of their land while driving down the value of others’ land

these people are like locusts set loose on the public and devouring their energy access, with democrats cheering them on

8 posted on 02/24/2012 6:36:56 AM PST by silverleaf (Funny how all the people who are for abortion are already born)
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To: crosshairs

Wind Power to make hydrogen would be smart.

Wind Power to generate electricity into the electric grid is stupid.

GE makes most of the wind generators and most of the quick start Combustion Turbines that it takes to back up the Wind Generators shut down.

Did you know that Wind Generators shut down when it is too cold? Shut down when it is too hot? Shut down when it is too windy? Shut down when there is freezing rain?

Talk about the “three little bears” of generation, they want it “just right.”


9 posted on 02/24/2012 6:38:17 AM PST by hadaclueonce (scrap copper is more than $3.00 a pound. wind generators are full of copper)
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To: Sacajaweau
Windmills - (Found on Yahoo 'Ask')

"Let's take two typical examples: a GE 1.5 MW wind turbine, and the Comanche Peak Nuclear Generating station outside of Dallas, Texas. Comanche Peak has 2 reactors, with a combined capacity of 2.5 GW.

So, to find out how many wind turbines we would need to generate the power of Comanche Peak, we first need to divide the total reactor output by the nameplate rating of a wind turbine:

2500 MW / 1.5 MW = 1,667

But not so fast: most wind turbines only have an average capacity factor of around 25%, meaning that they only produce, on average, about 25% of their rated capacity (nuclear power plants have an average capacity factor of more than 95%). So multiply the number of turbines required by four to get the real requirement:

1,667 * 4 = 6,668

Thus, it would take nearly 7,000 wind turbines to equal the output of a single typical nuclear power plant!

But that's not all: since wind speeds naturally vary a great deal, you need to build coal or natural gas backup generating capacity equal to 100% of the total nameplate capacity of the wind farm. This is borne out in the experience of Denmark, which has more installed wind capacity per capita than any other nation, but has been unable to shut down even a single one of its coal-fired power plants.

The conclusion is obvious: unless you want to kill people by energy starvation, or waste a lot of resources on pointless and probably corrupt boondoggles (i.e., T. Boone Pickens' Texas-sized energy swindle), wind, as well as solar energy is useless to an industrial society."


10 posted on 02/24/2012 6:38:25 AM PST by Baynative (Please check this out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFIcZkEzc8I)
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To: SeekAndFind

I would guess this whole deal is predicated on the congress renewing the 10 year credits for this boondoggle.

Now it is true that other forms of energy receive federal tax preferences. However, when calculating the implicit “subsidy” in terms of dollars per unit of energy delivered, the relative advantage isn’t even close. For example, total federal subsidies in fiscal year 2007 were $23.37 per megawatt hour for wind, compared with $0.44 for conventional coal and $0.25 for natural gas and petroleum liquids.[2] In fiscal year 2010, they were even higher. Wind’s subsidies amounted to $56.29 per megawatt hour, while the figures for coal, and natural gas and petroleum liquids, were tied at a mere $0.64.[3]


11 posted on 02/24/2012 6:40:50 AM PST by Recon Dad (Gas & Petroleum Junkie)
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To: Baynative

Thanks for a very informative post—good grist for talking to greenies.


12 posted on 02/24/2012 6:45:45 AM PST by thethirddegree
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To: SeekAndFind

I can’t believe that we lost to California as the most hated state. What’s wrong with you people?

The only upside to this wind farm is that it is going to ruin the view of the greeniacs on Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. There is some justice in this world.


13 posted on 02/24/2012 6:55:09 AM PST by St_Thomas_Aquinas (Viva Christo Rey!)
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To: thethirddegree

You can’t talk to greenies, they’re too stupid to understand what you are telling them.


14 posted on 02/24/2012 6:56:44 AM PST by anoldafvet
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To: SeekAndFind
Great article. Mass has issues with gas, they are for it before they are against it....

Here is some background.

* Their is an Eastern Mass Utility that will underwrite the cost of a Gas Heating System Conversion and your cost is about the retail of the heating unit. (don't ask how I know..)
* Given the choice of building a large LPG tank near Boston with the seller being an African Country, the Eco types scared the residence that it could explode like a large "device" and it didn't go forward. I got this from a friend of a friend who was with the Consultant. Rather than becoming more independent from Oil, they believed a scare tactic of the Eco_Greenies..
* Which begs the question, Their is Shale Gas in PA. The Appalachia Mountain Range actually continues through Western Mass and in fact maybe "The Berkshires" are part of it. Ok, if so, is their Shale Gas in Western Mass? IMHO we will never know, Boston and the Eco-Greenies will never let them look!!!

15 posted on 02/24/2012 7:12:56 AM PST by taildragger (( Palin / Mulally 2012 ))
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To: taildragger

George Bacharah? That POS is still around? So this is the rock he’s been under. He’s a Dukakoid hack de tutti hack.


16 posted on 02/24/2012 7:25:42 AM PST by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
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To: hadaclueonce

I heard that they found a dead Whooping Crane at the base of a wind generator in North West Texas and the Feds were on site in an hour roping the area off.

I cannot get the story confirmed.


17 posted on 02/24/2012 7:33:25 AM PST by hadaclueonce (scrap copper is more than $3.00 a pound. wind generators are full of copper)
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To: sportutegrl

Maybe they think the gazillion watts used by one of those “Accelerator” hand dryers can be generated by the fluttering wings of a butterfly in China .... oh wait, that picture was tied to global warming. Mixing my metaphors again.


18 posted on 02/24/2012 8:17:06 AM PST by Pecos (O.K., joke's over. Time to bring back the Constitution.)
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To: silverleaf

I didn’t see it for a long time - but - some notes -

These “Green energy deals” are not economically viable as stand alone - SOOOOO - REQUIRE government subsidy to work. (We know this).

Government creates demand
Subsidizes suppliers
subsidizes market/consumption -

They control the entire market - from demand, to technology, to production, to consumption.

It is a perfect mechanism for kickbacks. it is built for control. The gov can choose winners and losers - at each stage of the game. If someone steps out of line, or a market gets out of control - they turn down the rebates in that area, and change the price structure. Everyone MUST play ball - else they taek the punchbowl.

It is perfect for kickbacks. Designed for it.


19 posted on 02/24/2012 8:20:51 AM PST by Eldon Tyrell (question,.)
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To: Eldon Tyrell

I know!

And everyone in that “green energy” cycle is sucking HUGELY from the govt teat, hirng wildly within selective inner circles of upper class trust fund offspring, and yet, clinking the wine glasses and parading their credentials as concerned environmentalists saving the earth from the rest of us unwashed slobs for whom there is only disdain if not outright disgust or hatred. From thus spring the Van Jones and Bill Ayers types.

It is maddening. These liberal human locusts are a plague upon our society, sucking the life juices out of capitalism and individual opportunity and liberty


20 posted on 02/24/2012 8:43:57 AM PST by silverleaf (Funny how all the people who are for abortion are already born)
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