 | 10/22/2013 | Wind Developer Awarded State Contract Releases Site Plans, Confirms Site Control |
The proposed wind farm in Maine that state energy officials awarded a huge long-term energy contract to disclosed details of the project Tuesday after questions surfaced last week about the developer's control of the project site.
Bill Whitlock, executive vice president of the east region for EDP Renewables North America, said that the company has leased all 58,467 acres of land required to build the Number Nine Wind Farm, named for a small pond just west of Bridgewater, Maine.
He said the company has plans to acquire land rights for the 50 miles needed to connect the project to the electric grid.
The Connecticut energy department chose the development for a 15-year contract after fielding dozens of proposals since July. Ratepayers, through Connecticut's electric utilities, will purchase more than $1 billion in electricity and renewable energy credits from the project during the contract. The state expects the contract to save state ratepayers more than $200 million.
FuelCell Energy in Danbury and Allco Renewables in New York — both companies that submitted unsuccessful bids — have criticized the state's choice on the grounds that the wind farm project apparently lacked control of the land for the development, a crucial requirement to win the contract.
EDP Renewables' application stated that the company had leased the "majority" of land for the project and that it was working to lease the transmission easements.
The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which awarded the contract, said the project met the threshold for site control and called the companies' concerns a misreading of the project requirements.
The issue of site control is important because it helps the state reduce the risks involved with giant power contracts, particularly that an approved project would be delayed or, worse, never materialize.
"This land area is more than is required to construct the 250-megawatt wind farm proposed," Whitlock said. "Additional land may be secured for layout optimization which, although not necessary for project development, would improve overall project performance."
Once completed, the wind farm would be the largest capacity wind farm in New England.
Plans for the wind farm call for 125 wind turbines over 91 square miles of hilly land in remote northern Maine, just miles from the Canadian border, according to site plans reviewed by The Courant.
The project will be EDP Renewables' first in New England, where the best wind is, according to Whitlock. "The most competitive resources wind-wise in New England are in northern Maine," he said in an interview Tuesday.
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| 10/13/2013 | Malloy Heralds New Solar, Wind Power Projects |
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has announced two major clean-energy projects that he said will lower rates for state residents.
The governor said a solar installation slated to be built in Sprague and Lisbon and a wind-energy farm in Maine will cost under 8 cents per kilowatt-hour, which is close to matching the cost of power generated from fossil fuels and represents some of the lowest costs ever for solar and wind power in the region.
Both projects have signed long-term contracts with both Connecticut Light & Power and United Illuminating for a combined 270 megawatts of power and related renewable-energy credits.
“The selection of these two projects is a major milestone in implementing our Comprehensive Energy Strategy,” Malloy said.
“These projects bring real benefits — cleaner power with no air emissions and improved reliability by diversifying our energy portfolio — all at a cost comparable to electricity generated from conventional power plants.
"This is the most significant step Connecticut has ever taken to harness the power of clean energy and this announcement is truly a historic moment in Connecticut’s energy history.”
Here's a breakdown of the two projects:
Number Nine Wind Farm, a 250 MW land-based wind farm to be located in Aroostook County, Maine. EDP Renewables North America LLC, an international leader in large-scale wind installations, is the project developer.
Fusion Solar Center, a 20 MW AC solar photovoltaic system which will be located in Sprague and Lisbon, CT on land primarily owned by the Connecticut-based Fusion Paperboard Company. The project developer is HelioSage Energy, known nationally for its solar expertise.
The power-purchase agreements will now be submitted to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) for review and approval and the companies must also obtain all other necessary local and state approvals.
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| 10/10/2013 | Proposal to build major wind farm in Aroostook County resurrected |
A wind farm first proposed in southern Aroostook County in 2007 is back on the table.
EDP Renewables North America LLC, based in Houston, is pursuing development of a 250-megawatt wind farm roughly nine miles west of Bridgewater. The company calls it the Number Nine Wind Farm.
At 250 megawatts, the wind farm, if approved, would be the largest in New England when measured by capacity. Currently, the largest wind farm in the region is TransCanada’s Kibby Mountain wind farm in northern Franklin County, which has the capacity to generate 132 megawatts.
EDP Renewables North America’s plans were revealed in late September when Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy announced that the company had signed long-term power purchase agreements with the state’s two major electric utilities — Connecticut Light and Power and United Illuminating.
Developers of wind farms are looking to Maine with increased interest as technology improves and states pass laws requiring more power be supplied from renewable resources.
EDP Renewables is actively looking at other sites in Maine, according to Katie Chapman, the company’s project manager on the Aroostook County project.
“Northern Maine has been called the Holy Grail of wind because there’s a lot of resources up there,” she told the Bangor Daily News in an interview Tuesday. “If you can figure out how to get the transmission, the sky is the limit.”
Chapman and Jeff Bishop, a member of the company’s government relations team, were in Maine this week meeting with stakeholders.
The company plans to open a new office in the Presque Isle area within the next two months, Chapman said, adding that transparency and open dialogue are central to the company’s plans in the state.
“I’m personally willing to meet with anyone willing to talk,” Chapman said.
While the farm’s capacity will be 250 megawatts, the number of turbines used to generate that amount is still undetermined. The company is considering turbines that can generate between 2.5 and 3 megawatts apiece, which would mean the total number of turbines needed could range between 83 and 100, Adam Renz, a company spokesman, told the BDN on Monday.
The company has leased 58,500 square feet of land from a timberland company where it wants to build the farm, but the actual footprint of the project — turbines, substation and roads — would take up less than 3 percent of that space, according to Bishop.
The company has not begun the permitting process. It plans to begin that process next fall, once all its environmental studies are complete, Chapman said. The timeline calls for construction to begin in 2015 to have the wind farm be operational in 2016. Chapman said the project would create at least 300 temporary construction jobs in The County.
Houston-based Horizon Wind first proposed the Number Nine Wind Farm in 2007. At the time, the company opened an office in Presque Isle, complete with a ribbon-cutting ceremony with then-Gov. John Baldacci.
Madrid, Spain-based EDP Renewables acquired Horizon Wind in July 2007, changing its name to EDP Renewables North America. It remains headquartered in Houston and currently operates 29 wind farms in 11 states.
EDP Renewables kept the Presque Isle office open until 2011, but challenges at the time — namely how to efficiently transmit the electricity to the New England grid and the availability of long-term contracts for electricity generated from renewable resources — forced the company to mothball the project, according to Chapman.
But transmission technology has improved to the point where projects can be built with more efficiency, Chapman said.
In addition, states like Connecticut and Massachusetts have passed laws that require their utilities to source a larger percentage of their power from renewable resources, according to Todd Griset, an attorney at Preti Flaherty in Portland who focuses on the energy sector.
Massachusetts renewable portfolio standards call for 15 percent of electricity to be provided by new renewable resources by 2020, while Connecticut’s renewable portfolio standards require 20 percent of consumed power be provided by new renewable resources by 2020, Griset said.
These statutory requirements increase demand for wind projects in the region and create more opportunities for wind farm developers to secure long-term power purchase agreements.
While it’s “very hard to site a new project in Connecticut,” it’s much less difficult to do so in Maine, Griset said. A combination of Maine’s abundant resources and a “more permissive siting culture” make Maine an attractive place for wind farm developers such as EDP Renewables and First Wind, which also recently signed a long-term power purchase agreement with utilities in Massachusetts to supply energy from wind farms it has under development in Maine, Griset said.
“The demand for building new wind projects in Maine will be driven more by policies in states like Connecticut and Massachusetts, which have high demand and a willingness to pay for that electricity, than it will be by policies here in Maine,” Griset said. “The one exception is siting. That’s the one piece Maine has the best control over.”
Bishop, the company’s director of government relations, said the company is not fazed by the apparent stiffening of wind farm permitting rules by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
He said polls show that Maine residents support the wind power industry.
“As the economic development of these projects is fully realized, we hope the support will continue to grow,” Bishop said.
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| 9/23/2013 | Connecticut Boosts Renewables Portfolio With Commitment To 250 MW Wind Project |
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, D-Conn., has announced that two renewable energy projects - a 250 MW wind farm in Maine and a 20 MW solar installation in Connecticut - have been selected to help power the state's electricity grid.
The projects have signed long-term contracts with Connecticut's two major electric distribution companies - Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) and United Illuminating - for the purchase of the combined 270 MW of electricity and related renewable energy credits they will produce.
According to Malloy, the cost of power from the two projects will average under $0.08/kWh, representing a price close to matching that of power generated from conventional fossil fuel plants and some of the lowest costs ever obtained for solar and wind power in the region.
EDP Renewables North America LLC will build the Number Nine Wind Farm in Aroostook County, Maine. HelioSage Energy will construct the Fusion Solar Center in Sprague and Lisbon, Conn., on land primarily owned by Connecticut-based Fusion Paperboard Co. Both projects are expected to be operational by the end of 2016.
The two projects were selected after analysis and ranking of 47 proposals submitted in response to a request for proposals (RFP) issued by Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) on July 8.
The RFP was released just weeks after the general assembly approved and Malloy signed into law Public Act 13-303, An Act Concerning Connecticut’s Clean Energy Goals. The act restructured Connecticut’s renewable portfolio standard, authorizing the state to go forward with an alternative energy procurement process for up to 4% of the state’s total electricity load and recommit Connecticut to obtaining 20% of its electric power from alternative energy sources by 2020.
According to Malloy, the two projects selected will provide 3.5% of Connecticut’s total energy load. The quick time frame for the procurement process allows the projects to take advantage of federal tax credits for renewable energy projects that expire at the end of 2013, the governor adds.
“The pricing offered by these projects demonstrates that Connecticut’s new approach to clean energy can spark innovation and competition among various technologies and drive down costs,” adds DEEP Commissioner Daniel C. Esty. “We had wind, solar, fuel cells, tidal and biomass all competing for the same long-term power contracts with the electric distribution companies - and the clear winners were Connecticut’s ratepayers.”
The power purchase agreements will be submitted to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority for review and approval.
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