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Friday, January 29, 2016
This Land is My Land, Not a #fracking crib for (un) natural gaz
For educational purposes:
In
November, Attorney General Maura Healey released a study that concluded
additional natural gas pipeline capacity is not the best solution to meet the
state’s long-term energy demand needs.
Grid operator flags pipeline constraints, growing role of
renewables
BOSTON,
JAN. 26, 2016….With New England increasingly dependent on natural gas and the
region moving to a “hybrid fleet” featuring more renewable power generators,
power prices and system reliability are directly tied into the ability to move
lower-priced gas supplies through pipelines and into the region, according to
grid operators who provided an annual overview of the system on Tuesday.
Gordon
van Welie, president and chief executive officer of ISO New England Inc., told
reporters during a “State of the Grid” conference call that natural gas-fired
power plants produced 49 percent of the electricity generated in New England in
2015, but the system is stuck in a “precarious position” in the wintertime when
demand for natural gas rises for both power plants and residential home
heating.
With
Beacon Hill lawmakers gearing up for a major energy policy debate, van Welie
clarified that ISO New England does not favor any fuel or technology or
transmission or pipeline project, does not buy or sell electricity and has no
financial connection to the natural gas industry.
In
part due to the production of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale, New England
can take advantage of wholesale energy prices that are competitive with other
states if they are able to address pipeline constraint issues, he said. But
under current conditions, prices rise and the system is constrained for 30 to 50
days per year when temperatures dip into the teens or lower, he said, noting
there have been “hardly any issues” in recent weeks marked by mild
temperatures.
“No
one can predict what the weather will be in the long run,” van Welie said,
adding that natural gas-fired power generation is also required to ensure “fast
and flexible” energy and grid reliability as system operators learn more about
the reliability of wind and solar sources that are growing in popularity.
“The
generation fleet is shifting to a hybrid fleet from a system based almost
entirely on large-scale oil, coal, and nuclear generators located near large
population centers,” van Welie said. “This hybrid grid will continue to include
large generators, but they will be mostly natural gas power plants located near
large population centers and wind facilities in remote locations. Increasingly,
our resource mix will include distributed generation, such as solar panels
located at customers’ sites, and resources that reduce demand, such as energy
efficiency measures and companies that can lower their power usage when
needed.”
Oil
and coal plants are retiring “in large numbers,” van Welie said, but still play
an important role during peak demand periods in the winter. He said natural gas
and wind energy would replace retiring plants and discussed the need for
transmission improvements to pull wind and hydro power from sources in northern
New England and in Canada and deliver it to more populated areas in southern New
England.
Natural
gas pipeline projects have run into resistance from residents along the proposed
routes, elected officials and environmental groups. Asked about his confidence
level that projects will get approved, van Welie said it’s hard to gauge which
ones will make it through siting and contractual hurdles. “I think something
will come to fruition,” he said.
Investors
and market-based competition are working to fill gaps in power demand and a
pay-for-performance system going into effect in 2018 will further mitigate
reliability risks, van Welie said.
In
November, Attorney General Maura Healey released a study that concluded
additional natural gas pipeline capacity is not the best solution to meet the
state’s long-term energy demand needs.
Healey,
whose report puts her at odds with Gov. Charlie Baker’s desire to increase
natural gas capacity, said that while new pipeline capacity would have consumer
price benefits, it would also carry significant up-front costs with risks for
ratepayers of long-term commitments to pay for new infrastructure. The study,
funded with grants from the Barr Foundation and the John Merck Fund,
demonstrated “that a much more cost-effective solution is to embrace energy
efficiency and demand response programs that protect ratepayers and
significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” she said.
New
England’s power system features 350 generators and 31,000 megawatts of
generating capacity, including 15,000 megawatts of generation added since 1997.
The system’s all-time peak demand was 28,130 megawatts on Aug. 2, 2006. About 80
percent of the generation capacity added since 1997 runs on natural gas and 65
percent of all proposed new generation would use natural gas.
Other
points raised by van Welie during the conference call:
—
State policy requirements are also driving up the demand for wind and solar
power, and energy efficiency improvements are driving down peak demand power
levels.
—
The need for natural gas supplies will not be offset by hydropower coming down
from Canada, although that new source of power would help. It’s “important,” van
Welie said, to ensure that hydropower will be available to New England when the
system needs it.
—
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth, which last year announced its plans to
close, “was driven out of the market by low natural gas prices.”
—
While most solar power is based on “behind the meter” sites off the grid, the
grid overseers are seeing an aggregate effect on the power system during
daylight hours, van Welie said.
I
ask you all to consider what it would be like if a giant corporation came
knocking at your door, informing you that you had to acquiesce to them cutting
down your trees and creating a 50 foot wide swath through your land...land that
used to be forest and pasture, so they can put in their pipeline to carry
fracked gas through it, so they can make more profit and create the need for
more fracked gas.
Add
to this, your fear of gas explosions, and the prospect that you will no longer
ever feel safe in your home of more than 20 years again. Imagine that you
politely declined their offer but that makes no difference to this giant
corporation or our own government because the government has decided this
pipeline that perpetuates and expands the need for fracked gas is actually good
for Vermont and Vermonters.
Such
is the fate of several Monkton residents and if you thought you might get
involved but were waiting for the right time, the time is this Thursday, January
28.
All I could do was sit in my chair and type my heart out. meg
My
heart is with the few targeted property owners who oppose the pipeline And are
defending their Property Rights. Since when did the town start giving the go
ahead permission for permits before the applicant has the right to be there? How
can one or two selectmen, a governor, a newspaper, a paper mill, the PSB (Gods)
and a college just decide...there, there, that's the route we are giving the
Canadian energy monopoly. Landowners be damned. Landowners lawyer up (oh, that
is mean...expensive...Singularly painful). I try to keep updates on my blog
listed under Fracking http://traveloguefortheuniverse.blogspot.com
I
also have a lot under Vermont property taxes, Get used to it, people. You do not
own anything, all of you. You rent from the town and state who have the power to
make your life very complicated. If you all stand by when the PSB process tries
to pull another land grab for big power, then you too may be subject to the same
oppression.
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Feel free to leave comments. Have a great day in the Universe!