Wind Turbines in Mass

JeffDowntown said:
The problem with Canadian hydro or offshore wind is you have to get the electricity to MA -- and that means new transmission capacity through our northern neighbor states (which they have not been very cooperative about).
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New Hampshire stopped the Northern Pass project because the visual effect of the powerlines may have interfered with the economic development of the tourism-based economy in the northern part of the state. Eversource agreed to bury the lines within the National Forest, but the areas to the north were not sufficiently addressed to satisfy the NH Site Evaluation Committee.

Evidently, the cost of burying miles of high-voltage direct current lines was significantly higher than building towers.
 
New England Clean Power Link was one of the unbuilt proposals. It would have run under Lake Champlain and underground through Vermont. It had acquired almost all the approvals before MA chose Northern Pass and NECEC.

I think they could dust it off and add more inbound capacity to the grid.
 
Among other things, looking at the ISO-NE and Electricitymaps live data:
* Coal and especially oil appear on the grid on hotter days (e.g. expect a bunch of oil to show up on the grid the next two days), which points to insufficient gas capacity to cover peak grid demand, and resorting to oil and coal
* Hydro imports from Quebec to New England and New York have basically stopped on the existing 2GW HVDC line, with New York actually sending 726MW into Quebec right now according to Electricitymaps, which suggests a major hydro shortage on Quebec's side.


On the bright side, Vineyard Wind is chugging along, with a quarter of turbines delivering power, and should be complete by the end of the year:
www.wbur.org

Vineyard Wind brings more turbines online, expects to complete construction this year

The Vineyard Wind 1 offshore wind project, already years behind its original schedule, is now exporting power from 17 of its planned 62 turbines and plans have construction completed by the end of the year.
www.wbur.org www.wbur.org

*edit - grammar
 
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Yeah the gas-won’t-help argument is a tough one to make unless it’s from a pure degrowth perspective and you’re ready to tell wealthy Americans to accept a lower quality of life. More capacity is needed, especially from reliable sources with rapid deployment during peak demand periods. More lines from Canada and at least capacity to call more gas if needed.

Fingers crossed vineyard wind doesn’t hit any more snags that locals and the White House could use to try to halt future work…
 
Looking at the current live data at peak demand on this hot day:
* There is 2,033MW of oil-fired generation and 294MW of coal-fired generation on the New England grid right now (8% and 1% of all power on the grid respectively)
* Quebec turned its spigot back on (1.78GW getting sent into New England, and 1.54GW into New York). Spot prices are very high right now though ($220.30/MWh), so most likely they were saving their water for when they can sell into the New England grid most profitably.
 
www.providencejournal.com

Trump administration halts construction of Revolution Wind project off RI

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management stopped all activity related to the 704-megawatt wind farm that has contracts to deliver power to RI and CT.
www.providencejournal.com
The Trump administration has halted construction of Revolution Wind, the wind farm being built south of the Rhode Island coast that has already installed 45 of its 65 turbines.

In a letter sent on Friday, Aug. 22, to Ørsted, the Danish company that is a partner on the joint venture developing the project, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management ordered a stop to all ongoing activities related to the 704-megawatt wind farm that has contracts to deliver power to Rhode Island and Connecticut.
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www.wbur.org

In latest anti-wind action, Trump administration moves to revoke SouthCoast Wind permit

The Trump administration asked a federal judge to allow it to revoke a key permit for SouthCoast Wind, a project that could power about 1.4 million homes in the region.
www.wbur.org www.wbur.org
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management had approved SouthCoast's COP on Jan. 17, 2025, three days before President Trump's second term began.
"Based on its review to date, BOEM has determined that the COP approval may not have fully complied with the law regulating the use of federal waters over the outer continental shelf," the government wrote. "That is reason enough to grant a remand."
In a statement, SouthCoast Wind said the company "intends to vigorously defend our permits in federal court."
The project took four years to get permitted, and "reflected an extensive public process that incorporated feedback from federal and state government agencies, commercial ocean users, Tribal Nations and many other stakeholders," the company's statement continued. "Stable permitting for American infrastructure projects should be of top concern for anyone who wants to see continued investment in the United States."
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#bancars said:
newbedfordlight.org

Vineyard Wind reaches 50% power production - The New Bedford Light

The offshore wind farm is sending power from at least 30 turbines to the Massachusetts grid.
newbedfordlight.org newbedfordlight.org
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For people who like stats, we got to our second highest wind generation last week, highest was in June of this year. Pretty much directly correlated to Vineyard Wind coming online. Still only a couple percent of overall grid power most days but it's a start. https://www.gridstatus.io/records/isone?record=Maximum Wind
 
www.bostonglobe.com

Wind turbine blade crashes into Plymouth cranberry bog, officials say - The Boston Globe

The rare mechanical failure startled nearby residents but caused no injuries, according to Plymouth Fire Chief Neil Foley.
www.bostonglobe.com www.bostonglobe.com
The incident occurred just before 2 p.m. when a neighbor called emergency services to report that one of the three blades on a turbine near 810 Head of the Bay Road was suddenly missing. When Plymouth firefighters arrived, they found the nearly 100-foot-long fiberglass blade lying several hundred feet from the base of the tower, submerged in the cranberry bog.
Officials called the area “remote,” stating in a Friday release that “no homes or occupied buildings were in the immediate vicinity of the fall.”
[...]
The maintenance company responsible for the wind turbine responded shortly after to conduct inspections. The company determined the turbine automatically entered a “fail-safe mode” and shut down after the blade detached.
The surrounding area remains closed to the public. The maintenance company has since begun inspecting the tower and arranging for the area to be cleaned up.
The Plymouth Fire Department also notified the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the town’s Inspectional Services Department, which will oversee the follow-up investigation. The cause of the failure remains under review.
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apnews.com

Trump administration suspends 5 wind projects off the East Coast, cites national security concerns

The Trump administration is suspending leases for five large-scale offshore wind projects under construction on the East Coast due to what it said were national security risks identified by the Pentagon.
apnews.com apnews.com
The administration said leases are paused for the Vineyard Wind project under construction in Massachusetts, Revolution Wind in Rhode Island and Connecticut, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, and two projects in New York: Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind.
The Interior Department said unclassified reports from the U.S. government have long found that the movement of massive turbine blades and the highly reflective towers create radar interference called “clutter.” The clutter caused by offshore wind projects can obscure legitimate moving targets and generate false targets in the vicinity of wind projects, the Interior Department said.
National security expert and former Commander of the USS Cole Kirk Lippold disputed the administration’s national security argument. The offshore projects were awarded permits “following years of review by state and federal agencies,” including the Coast Guard, the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, the Air Force and more, he said.
“The record of decisions all show that the Department of Defense was consulted at every stage of the permitting process,” Lippold said, arguing that the projects would benefit national security because they would diversify the country’s energy supply.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I, said Revolution Wind was thoroughly vetted and fully permitted by the federal government, “and that review included any potential national security questions.” Burgum’s action “looks more like the kind of vindictive harassment we have come to expect from the Trump administration than anything legitimate,’' he said.
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From the article ... "East Coast due to what it said were national security risks identified by the Pentagon." and "The prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement."

Phew, finally! Every time I pass close to a windmill I fear for my life and those offshore windmills are hazardous to boaters, at night.

OK, Enough of the snarky comments.
 
citydweller said:
From the article ... "East Coast due to what it said were national security risks identified by the Pentagon." and "The prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement."

Phew, finally! Every time I pass close to a windmill I fear for my life and those offshore windmills are hazardous to boaters, at night.

OK, Enough of the snarky comments.
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Apparently, windmills can confuse the radar systems designed to detect low flying cruise missiles. I think this one's true, but I wasn't fooled by windmill-cancer.
 
If the DoD was consulted the whole way through, I don't think we need to worry about cruise missiles. Besides, who across the Atlantic is shooting at us? France? Mauretania?

Climate change ultimately presents far more varied and intractable security risks. Though I guess, if you're Trump or the GOP, climate change isn't real, so....
 
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