Thinking About Wind Power
There are several questions I have been thinking over, which I plan to discuss in the next week or so:
1. The technological efficiency of renewable energy, and whether waiting a few years would gain us significant improvements in energy efficiency.
2. Whether the cost of the Bluewater Wind project should be imposed on a larger customer base.
3. Whether Delaware should start over again and follow the New Jersey approach to adopting wind power.
The General Assembly reconvenes on Tuesday, June 3. Our senators pay attention to what we have to say. Let's keep those cards and letters coming folks.
1. The technological efficiency of renewable energy, and whether waiting a few years would gain us significant improvements in energy efficiency.
2. Whether the cost of the Bluewater Wind project should be imposed on a larger customer base.
3. Whether Delaware should start over again and follow the New Jersey approach to adopting wind power.
The General Assembly reconvenes on Tuesday, June 3. Our senators pay attention to what we have to say. Let's keep those cards and letters coming folks.
posted by Tom Noyes at 9:10 PM
3 Comments:
Tom -
Regarding your Item 2, I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that starting all over again might be the only way for wind power to ever become a reality for Delaware. I know it would be terrible repetitive and wasteful to do so, but I think the atmosphere between Bluewater and Delmarva and its allies in Dover has become so toxic that things are on track to go absolutely nowhere. Let us remember that Bluewater is not the only entity in the world capable of building offshore wind farms.
The Senate is probably going to drag its feet in order to run out the clock for this session. And in the interim period between the end of this session and the start of the next, Delmarva, et al, will be doing everything in their power to discredit Bluewater's proposal and to muddy the waters with dubious counter proposals for purchasing onshore wind.
Perhaps the original bill that started this whole mess should be scrapped and recast in a different manner.
I would love to see New Jersey make substantial progress toward a wind farm, as that might shame Delaware into doing likewise.
It's possible that the Senate will run out the clock on this, but I don't think it will happen. Keep in mind there are eight senators signed on to HCR 38, and all we need is 11. I am also hearing that there is considerable sentiment inside the Dem. caucus to bring it for a vote.
I am not ready to back all the way to square one, which would mean it would take us two years to get back to where we are today.
In the past, comparisons have been made between Bluewater Wind and a major sporting event.
Your thoughts, anon, if carefully analyzed would be similar to the Flyer's asking the NHL to redo the entire season, because they were disappointed in how their last 5 games turned out.....
In this effort, it is the Senate who is at fault. Without them, we may have already been halfway through the preliminaries. You fail to remember, that 90% of Delawareans wanted this to happen; that 94% of the public response at forums held across this state by the PSC was in favor of wind over the other two options; that through an open process, which both Tommy and I followed step by step, the PSC unanimously approved the Bluewater option was the best option for Delaware; that all four entities were lined up to vote in favor of the Bluewater Deal until a minority of 4 Senators ordered Russ Larson to vote no; that even within the Senate Committee of Energy and Transit, Harris McDowell's very own committee, in order to get a report out at all, McDowell had to scratch all reference that the committee endorsed the "no" vote of Larson, lightly recommending instead that Larson at least take 20 seconds to look over the report before voting, that the House of Representatives themselves overwhelmingly voted 25 to 11 to ORDER RUSS LARSON TO VOTE YES; that 8 Senators of 11 needed have already signed on as sponsors, effectively saying this bill must pass....and all of this overwhelming tidal wave of support behind making Delaware the first state to build an offshore wind facility, is held up by four stupid asses.
That anon is the reality. Going back to square one would move OUR potential Silicon Valley to New Jersey, and all its economic benefits would go with it.... Going back to square one would do nothing to cap citizens of Delaware's rising energy costs.....going back to square one, means more carbon emissions would warm our atmosphere while we struggled to find an alternative...
The best bet right now, is to keep the line in the sand drawn....then wean out those who do not cross over it....After all, that is what the political process is for....
We can learn from those (180 years ago) in the livery business who fought the coming of the railroads....both they, and the towns who listened to them, lost out big time as history moved on.
Carbon will be a minority fuel by 2050. It will be obsolete, primarily because of its costs.
Remember, it is the smart investors who are the ones that get in on the ground floor..
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