Dec182009
Despite problems with grid, North Country biomass plant moving ahead
Filed under Alternative energy by david brooks at 11:48 am
Screen shot of my alt-energy Google Map. The plant's size has changed since I wrote that bubble!
The so-called Coos Loop is a section of the power grid that isn’t connected very well to the rest of New England’s power lines. This weak connection has long cast a pall over developing wind farms and wood-burning power plants up in the North Country, where there are lots of trees, lots of windy ridges, and fewer people to object to energy plants. A 99-turbine wind farm being planned near Dixville Notch was supposed to take up all of that connection and make it very hard to build biomass plants, much to the annoyance of loggers in the region, who need something to replace the departed paper mills.
But apparently the connection isn’t as bad as had been thought. NH Business Review reports that plans are going ahead on a roughly 65-megawatt biomass plant in Berlin at the site of the former Fraser Paper Mill. (Project proposal here). From the story:
The company said results of an ISO New England feasibility study indicated that the Berlin facility would be able to connect to the transmission system with minimal upgrades, estimated to cost less than $1 million.
RELATED STORY: Vermont Yankee has a long-term price deal (6.1 cents per kilowatt hour, about 50 percent above the current deal) - and it hopes this will convince regulators to keep it going. AP story here. Free-Press story, with more detail, here.
December 18th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
I am impressed with the content of the article. I have been trying this method and I have seen some real improvements. This method is very useful.
December 19th, 2009 at 6:05 am
Very cool map. The Alexandria wood fired plant is now in operation. It's been open about a year and they've been very good neighbors. I'm about 1 mile east of the facility and have almost no complaints. The plant doesn't kick off any odor, it's not noisy, and I'm not aware of any trucks bringing in fuel. My only complaint is that they seem to keep a lot of lights on at night. It generally doesn't affect the portion of sky I see, but it would be nice if they dimmed things down a bit. All in all, I'm glad they're here so just sign me 'Alexandria YIMBY'
December 19th, 2009 at 7:24 am
I'll update the map - I've had a bit of trouble keeping up with biomass plants, since they're more numerous and not so regulated. At once point I thought about dumping them from the map, but figured they're too important to us.
December 19th, 2009 at 7:36 am
Thanks for the prod - I've updated a couple things on the map, including the small but interesting Vinalhaven wind farm being in operating now. I also removed a couple of scuttled biomass plants, since those were news a couple years ago but not any more.
December 20th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Hi Dave, is there are way to interact with the map and explore beyond the screen shot?
if not that is ok just saw there was some great info on there.
Cathy
December 20th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
I've noticed read today that the deal between the new power plant in Berlin and PSNH has a price escalator clause in it that isolates the power plant from rising wood chip prices. Supposedly wood chip prices are 60% of the costs of operating one of these plants. This seems to indicate any increased costs will be passed on to us. Can they make a deal like this without first passing it by the PUC?
December 21st, 2009 at 7:06 am
The link is in the right-hand column - I made it more prominent over the weekend, putt it at the top with a little graphic. You can't edit it of course (I have to keep some functions to myself!) but there's lots of links and stuff to check.
If you see errors/omissions, let me know!