Saco finds turbine is a turn for the worse
The city wants the company's former CEO to make amends for the underperforming unit.
By Beth Quimby bquimby@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer
The Saco City Council wants to meet with the head of the company that sold the city a wind turbine before deciding what to do about the broken structure.
The wind turbine at the Saco Transportation Center has not generated the amount of electricity the city was promised during the unit’s first 18 months of operation, and now it needs repairs.
Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
The turbine, which cost $207,000, including $77,000 for the installation, went into operation in February 2008. It was supposed to generate 90,000 kilowatt hours -- $12,600 worth -- of electricity annually for 10 years, according to the city's contract with Entegrity Wind Systems of Prince Edward Island. But it never came close.
The turbine produced 16,000 kilowatt hours during its first 18 months, then broke down several months ago.
The council decided Monday night to meet with James Heath, the former chief executive officer of Entegrity, which was declared bankrupt by a Canadian court in October. Heath had offered at one point to buy the turbine back for $130,000.
"He sounds like a reasonable person," Saco Mayor Ron Michaud said Tuesday.
Saco was not the only Maine community that bought a wind turbine from Entegrity with the goal of cutting electricity costs.
Kittery bought a $200,000 setup. That turbine produced about 35,000 kilowatt hours in a year of service. The Kittery Town Council eventually decided to sell the turbine back to Heath after he offered to buy it.
Details of the transaction are still being worked out, said Kittery Town Manager Jonathan Carter. He said the turbine is expected to come down by the end of this summer.
The Saco City Council also wants to talk to Heath about making repairs to the turbine, which are not expected to be costly.
Heath has indicated that he could develop a new blade that would nearly double the turbine's production to 30,000 kilowatt hours a year, said Howard Carter, Saco's deputy public works director.
It is unclear whether Heath would make repairs or install a new blade for free.
Saco had hoped that its turbine would power the city's Transportation Center, which houses the Amtrak Downeaster train station.
A geothermal energy system that provides heating and cooling for the center has proven to be efficient. But the turbine didn't perform as advertised, so the city has had to buy electricity to supplement the turbine's output.
Michaud said the council hopes to meet with Heath next month, but a meeting has yet to be scheduled.
Staff Writer Beth Quimby can be contacted at 791-6363 or at: bquimby@pressherald.com
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68 COMMENTS
fake name said...
This is the future for the "green economy".
July 21, 2010 at 12:29 AM Report abuse
Jake Mulligan said...
OK Saco City Council, let's have some forward thinking in this process. Please do not throw the baby out with the bath water. I am sure that the first oil-fired electricity generation facility had some problems in its early stages.
July 21, 2010 at 5:15 AM Report abuse
islandmanz said...
"I am sure that the first oil-fired electricity generation facility had some problems in its early stages." - Yes, they blew up and took the building with them. Readers who think for themselves will not confuse poor execution with failed concept. The biggest problem with alternative solutions is many of the "experts" who sell them. Vetting people with proven track records is made worse by the bidding process which emphasizes cost over value and proven results.
July 21, 2010 at 5:56 AM Report abuse
JustAGnome said...
Saco and Kittery are microcosms of the windustry picture. While rationalizations will be made for the poor performance and failures the inherent technology and concepts are flawed. It is only a matter of time before the other shoe falls off on industrialized wind. When the public finally realizes that the support of wind power was misplaced, they will only need look in a mirror to find who is to blame: ignorance is bliss.
July 21, 2010 at 6:17 AM Report abuse
Matt said...
I have some swamp land in Floriday and a bridge in Brooklyn I'm willing to sell. I've heard the City of Saco is interested...
July 21, 2010 at 6:22 AM Report abuse
said...
I have to be optimistic and agree with Jake Mulligan. There is going to be problems with any new technology. At least a non functioning wind turbine can be disassembled with no residual effects. Remember Maine Yankee? Where is all the nuclear waste from that?
July 21, 2010 at 7:01 AM Report abuse
feduptoo said...
People rant about how expensive nuclear is BUT it remains half the cost of wind and solar. Hydropower is roughly one sixteenth the cost. Still no numbers on unicorn power though.
July 21, 2010 at 7:33 AM Report abuse
said...
Urban communities placing their hopes on the wind is akin to farm communities hiring a professional rainmaker to ward off drought. No one can predict what nature will do. Without government propping up, (read: wasting your tax money), wind power is one of the least viable sources of power. Local officials that get suckered by all this ‘green’ hocus-pocus should be voted out. (Then maybe they will use all their new free time to read up on Don Quixote?)
July 21, 2010 at 7:37 AM Report abuse
Classic said...
Sounds like the Saco Council didn't do their homework on this one. They should cut their losses, and, sell it back to the company.
July 21, 2010 at 7:49 AM Report abuse
weasle said...
First...both turbines are in lousy locations and too small. Second....instead of jumping headlong into something even when working properly amounts to a drop in a bucket makes no sense. This is the same type of thinking that got them a trash incinerator placed down town. No thought for anything than the moment. Offer the river for underwater turbine development, or at least buy something that pays for itself. In a best case senario the turbine was a break even after 10 years.
July 21, 2010 at 7:49 AM Report abuse
said...
It gets very cold in Maine for very long periods of time.In order to keep our children warm in these periods we need reliable energy sources that we can afford on our meager incomes.Big Wind taxpayer subsidies is a swindle that will reveal just how gullible people are and how corrupt our politicians have become.
July 21, 2010 at 7:51 AM Report abuse
said...
It gets very cold in Maine for very long periods of time.In order to keep our children warm in these periods we need reliable energy sources that we can afford on our meager incomes.Big Wind taxpayer subsidies is a swindle that will reveal just how gullible people are and how corrupt our politicians have become.
July 21, 2010 at 7:51 AM Report abuse
Jack_Pine said...
Spending the public's money without sufficient research despite the rising tide of warnings that wind in Maine simply does not work. Saco, Kittery and UMPI. Three public views. Three public failures. This same story will play out across all of Maine as Maine and Mainers suffer extraordinary damages - unless the public, our elected officials and the media begin demanding accountability. After all, as taxpayers we pay the subsidies and as ratepayers, we pay the billions for new transmission lines required solely so the wind swindlers can sell their electricity out of state - so should we not be entitled to see how our "investment" is doing?
July 21, 2010 at 8:04 AM Report abuse
said...
You see taxpayers of Maine, you are being scammed. The Citizens of Maine are demanding the answers from an ethical, legal, transparent energy process, not an expedited illegal one. The Law of our state constitution demands THIS. We are tired of the wind liars of this scam in Maine, as well as the hasty Cap and Trade REC creating financial drooling that is occurring by the likes of Angus King and son and First Wind et al and Baldacci stooges like Kurt Adams. Transparent process is lacking, and science non-existent at present. Clean Power Demands Clean Process! The process to date has been dirty and perverted in Maine: it must end. An ethics code and legal process must be initiated here before any project is conceived from now on. The full process by DEP for noise and environmental REAL SCIENCE must be utilized. The benefits must override the losses and be demonstrated to all. Wind Power has done none of tha above, because it can’t exist on its merits.
July 21, 2010 at 8:14 AM Report abuse
Bob said...
Last evening there was virtually no wind so I went to look at the Freedom turbines. Two were not turning and one was turning very slowly. The lights were blinking, and since there was no wind something was turning the one turbine and blinking the lights. Electricity? I also got a look at the Vinalhaven turbines from Owls Head the other night. Winking lights above the island. What are we doing?
July 21, 2010 at 8:19 AM Report abuse
Pillory said...
I want to hear more about the geothermal heating and cooling system that's working efficiently.
July 21, 2010 at 8:27 AM Report abuse
Jack_Pine said...
In the Entegrity presentation to Saco, there was a 5 year electricity production guarantee, but also an asterisk that said "based on wind resource". One of the problems with Maine is that the wind resource onshore is terrible. Did anyone look at the wind resource maps? See ----- http://www.sacomaine.org/departments/boards/ewsi.pdf ------ and for wind resource, see the map at the following site and look at the legend which shows onshore Maine's wind resource is almost exclusively POOR to MARGINAL ------------ http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/images/windmaps/me_50m_800.jpg ------------- When Angus King got up on his snake oil box proclaiming to us we were unwittingly living in the "Saudi Arabia of Wind" implying we were all wealthy, he should have been regarded as no different than the Nigerian email that also informs you you are rich in the hopes you drop your guard from greed. Now Ocean Energy's Matt Simmons is telling us we are the new "Silicon Valley of Wind". Will we learn?
July 21, 2010 at 8:28 AM Report abuse
X said...
HEHHEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
July 21, 2010 at 8:33 AM Report abuse
said...
Angus King is a Snake Oil Salesman, and VERY DENSE! He is not a scientist. Wind will never be a dense power As scientists know, fossil fuels and uranium are very "dense" sources of energy capacity. A nuclear plant works at 90 percent capacity value for electricity production. A wind farm has next to no capacity value, and cannot be relied on, ever, as a capacity generator of electricity. Percentage wise, Europe sees about 15 percent from their wind farms in electrical spurts, that have done nothing for their grid capacity other than complicate managing of it, for little to no gain. CO2 reduction has not occurred, because "spinning reserve", (other fossil generators), are always needed to back up wind. Wind just will never cut it, and here is why. It is called PHYSICS my friends. "Renewable fuels can't compete against physics" Period. Now, you know. TOO BAD MAINE IS LEARNING THE HARD WAY, and BEING SCAMMED!
July 21, 2010 at 8:40 AM Report abuse
gempaint said...
at least pph is reporting some of the bad news of big wind industry
July 21, 2010 at 8:45 AM Report abuse
said...
Maine is learning , the hard way, about how Elitist BIG BUCKS keep them a Poor "Plantation State!" We Should have some of the lowest electrical cost in the nation,WHY DON'T WE? In the essay, Wall Street Reaps Big Bucks from the Wind, the strategy to defraud the public is explored. “The latest rage out of the boiler room sharks that hawk new equity issues touts alternative energy. The hype that is coming out of Wall Street resembles the internet band wagon before the bust . . . Goldman Sachs rushes to finance the offers with their expertise – using other peoples’ money . . . Understand from the outset, that producing useful energy is not the prime objective of wind projects.“
July 21, 2010 at 8:46 AM Report abuse
Blueyes1119 said...
Following up on "Bob said": This underscores the problem with industrial wind that so many gullible politicians are hyping. It is unpredictable, unreliable, inefficient and costly both in economics and the environmental impact. If the goals put into the heinous Expedited Wind law are realized, it will mean 1800 industrial turbines strewn across 350 miles of Maine blasted away ridgelines, permanently clearcutting 50,000+ acres and connected to the $1.5 billion transmission line by 1,000+ miles of powerlines. This is the future of Maine's touted "Quality of Place". We need to stop this expensive, useless folly that exists only due to ridiculous TAXPAYER SUBSIDIES.
July 21, 2010 at 8:51 AM Report abuse
Troy said...
The only reason it's not working now is they don't have anyone to fix it. Why not use this as a training tool for the new green education courses they are starting to offer at the Community Colleges. Then we can get the repairs at a much cheaper rate. Also I'm a little tired of the conversation about how dumb we are for trying something new. Maine isn't the only one being "duped" a lot of other States are a well and one of them is going to find the right combination and we'll be right where we have for almost 200 years. Behind the pack.
July 21, 2010 at 8:56 AM Report abuse
Iwatch said...
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
July 21, 2010 at 9:40 AM Report abuse
Iwatch said...
As I recall, when attending the preview meetings, the company guaranteed this turbine. My question was: What if this company goes bankrupt or files chapter 11, does this negate the guarantee? I did not have a good feeling about this whole proposition as well as committing the City to so much money wasted. At that time Saco City Councilors were completely sold on this atrocity. PS: How about a nice dependable petroleum generator outside in case of emergency?
July 21, 2010 at 9:47 AM Report abuse
said...
Jake Mulligan said... OK Saco City Council, let's have some forward thinking in this process. Please do not throw the baby out with the bath water. I am sure that the first oil-fired electricity generation facility had some problems in its early stages. ========================== This is not a new experimental technology. These turbines are in operation in many places and there is plenty of data. A basic knowledge of physics and some wind measurement data will tell you what you can and can't expect from wind. These turbines are oversold. The people selling them are harvesting grant money, not energy.
July 21, 2010 at 9:48 AM Report abuse
ThorEau said...
Mainers would save themselves immense and totally avoidable financial trouble if it would stop listening to the hedge fund green bubble inflators (remember the dotcom bubble?) and read the National Renewable Energy Lab's "Estimates of Wind Energy Potential by State". There one sees that Maine's maximum possible installed capacity is 11 thousand MW, as compared to Texas which has 1.9 MILLION MW. Kansas, Montana and Nebraska are all over 900,000. The Dakotas, Iowa,Wyoming and Oklahoma are all over 500,000. Again, MAINE IS ONLY 11,000. You can see for yourself at ************ http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/pdfs/wind_maps/wind_potential_80m_30percent.pdf
July 21, 2010 at 9:52 AM Report abuse
Jack_Pine said...
lwatch said: "I did not have a good feeling about this whole proposition as well as committing the City to so much money wasted. At that time Saco City Councilors were completely sold on this atrocity". -------------------- Entegrity's presentation to Saco is here: http://www.sacomaine.org/departments/boards/ewsi.pdf If one looks at page 19, it appears they tried to present the turbine savings/revenue as $950,000. Confidence gaming 101 says that people get stupid when you appeal to their greed.
July 21, 2010 at 10:00 AM Report abuse
ThorEau said...
Does anyone know if Senator Barry Hobbins (D-Saco) had his hand in this? If so, it is simply more reason to be scared for what's left in our piggy banks given that he chairs the state's Utilities & Energy Committee and also advises Governor Baldacci on the Governor's Ocean Energy Task Force.
July 21, 2010 at 10:08 AM Report abuse
said...
The "Green Economy" is as fake as our present politic rulers.We desperately need leaders who want to meet the needs of the citizenty and not their own. I will never vote for a liberal again. They pretend to care about the working class but they continually make it harder and harder for us to survive.These elitists get richer and richer while we get poorer and poorer.
July 21, 2010 at 10:27 AM Report abuse
Troy said...
Remember the Dot Com bubble? A lot of thriving businesses exist today from that "dotcom bubble". The Bubble was caused because everyone was trying to get rich and investing in products with no possibility of turn out. The technology works and wind isn't our only option here. Eventually electric vehicles will run into the problem of the American Road Trip this is where Hydrogen Fuel Cells can pick up the slack. Maine can corner the market in the US if we stop complaining and actually try to do what our State motto says.
July 21, 2010 at 10:48 AM Report abuse
Lothar said...
Troy said... Remember the Dot Com bubble? A lot of thriving businesses exist today from that "dotcom bubble". The Bubble was caused because everyone was trying to get rich and investing in products with no possibility of turn out. The technology works and wind isn't our only option here. Eventually electric vehicles will run into the problem of the American Road Trip this is where Hydrogen Fuel Cells can pick up the slack. =================== Is wind the next Amazon or is it the next Pets.com? How about hydrogen fuels cells, you do realize that hydrogen has lousy energy density and that it takes a lot of energy to make hydrogen, right? A lot of the "green" stuff is big business tricking the people who hate big business into giving them money. Afterall, if green is the goal, then it must be good.
July 21, 2010 at 10:58 AM Report abuse
Stam Ford said...
Frightening isn't it??? Nice that we have no choice in our "elected" officials they are all turned out by the same ole same ole party machines...Clones of one another and all of them socialist fascists to the core. Until ordinary citizens can form a coalition strong enough to get some of us elected....we will see just more and more of the same ole..
July 21, 2010 at 11:05 AM Report abuse
said...
Just a preview of Prez Obama's "Green Economy"....what fools we are. And never, never; elect a Democrat. They are the special interest groups that are nailing our Nation to the floor of despair.
July 21, 2010 at 11:17 AM Report abuse
Freddi said...
P T Barnum was right.
July 21, 2010 at 12:09 PM Report abuse
JWR said...
...and now it needs repair. This is higly laughable. Attn: Saco residents, don't let the city stick you with the repair bill. So, wind energy starts out as a scam, no wonder the general public questions anything else that might be feasible. If we can't sell the masses on viable affordable alternatives then I'm afraid it will never get wide spread use.
July 21, 2010 at 12:57 PM Report abuse
JWR said...
Anonymous said... " These turbines are oversold. The people selling them are harvesting grant money, not energy."------And that folks is the Gospel Truth..
July 21, 2010 at 1:02 PM Report abuse
ThorEau said...
The $1.6 billion CMP upgrade, to be paid for by ratepayers, is due solely so that the wind produced in remote spots of Maine can be shipped down to Ct and Mass. So that cost needs to be added to the already "filet mignon" price. We were lied to when we were told it was needed because the lines were 40 years old. In fact, we pay maintenance every month on our bills to keep the lines reliable. (Read the back of your electric bill). And population growth for the entire northeast is forecast as low single digits over the next 20 years - in total, (not per year). Moreover, appliances will get more efficient. Nope, if the crime was ripping up our countryside, the getaway car is the CMP upgrade. And to add insult to injury, it is the ratepayer who is forced to buy the getaway car for a tiny few, who are already profiting immensely from the $23 per MWH subsidy that wind gets - 90 times natural gas! The more I study it, the worse it gets.
July 21, 2010 at 1:13 PM Report abuse
tetobyrd@hotmail.com said...
Ex-governor king richard ingalls justice leigh saufley bernstein shur sawyer nelson we could live without any of these pigs
July 21, 2010 at 1:20 PM Report abuse
Abu Mohoboibi said...
Dem dere windmills not so goood eh? You sen' dem back to Nouveau Ecosse pronto....
July 21, 2010 at 1:23 PM Report abuse
Imagine said...
There's lots of money being put into wind turbines. Too bad it's not an efficient way to create energy as it's touted. On a side note, CMP needs to be stopped from having a monopoly on the energy we use. That would be terrible news from Maine, regardless of what that lineman tells us on our CMP bills.
July 21, 2010 at 2:13 PM Report abuse
NameNameWhat'sInAName said...
the green heads so totally lack understanding of practical science. how about if their iphone & google only worked on windy days?...and that has to include not too windy, not snowing, not too much rain either....
July 21, 2010 at 3:11 PM Report abuse
sam said...
I bought a car that was a lemon once. So now, by the "logic" of some of the comments here, we should abandon automotive transport and go back to horses and buggies.
July 21, 2010 at 3:55 PM Report abuse
Blockhead said...
Troy. They don't have anyone to fix it? If they can't fix it they shouldn't put them up. And since you sort of admit they don't know what they are doing, are you willing to sacrifice our state for for an experiment which has already failed? There are lots of problems with industrial scale turbines including environmental destruction on a huge scale as Blueeyes pointed out. Wind on this scale has been around worldwide for many years and the results are very disappointing. Check out windaction.org. or ctwf.org.
July 21, 2010 at 4:08 PM Report abuse
Weasle said...
No Sam, but I would suggest buying another make or model of car. We have that option with Nuclear, Hydro and even Bio-mass. For new we should look at tidal...or anything else that is a constant. If we want the rivers free flowing fine...find a low spot between a couple mountains and make a lake. Has to be better than taking the tops off the mountains and putting up wind mills
July 21, 2010 at 4:10 PM Report abuse
Iwatch said...
Sam: YOU bought a car once that was a lemon. OK It was YOUR choice and YOUR money. For the taxpayers of Saco this was neither. They are just simply scammed.
July 21, 2010 at 4:15 PM Report abuse
Blockhead said...
Sorry, I meant http://www.windtaskforce.org
July 21, 2010 at 4:17 PM Report abuse
Lori said...
Upon purchase, it was guaranteed to generate 90,000 now they're saying they can have it up and running at around 30,000 per year???!!! The company is already downgrading the power supply output by 2/3's . . . . what part of "THIS IS NOT WHAT WE SIGNED UP FOR" does the city officials not understand???? Get him to buy it back at what the cost of what Saco paid (including installation) and be done with it . . . . . . . . should the buy back be anything less than our cost, then the perpetrator of this brainchild within our local gov't. should be on the hook financially for the difference. BTW, why did we spend millions on this transportation center anyway??? . . . . they don't even have a live person to which you can purchase an AMTRAK ticket !!!
July 21, 2010 at 4:54 PM Report abuse
Herb Hopplemeyer said...
"Saco had hoped that its turbine would power the city's Transportation Center" How's that "hope" thing working for you?
July 21, 2010 at 5:43 PM Report abuse
django said...
sam said... I bought a car that was a lemon once. So now, by the "logic" of some of the comments here, we should abandon automotive transport and go back to horses and buggies. ===================== This wasn't a lemon. It didn't live up to its expectations because it was oversold. The people selling it didn't look at what the actual wind conditions would be. They just made an overly optimistic estimate. See UMPI and Kittery for similar experiences.
July 21, 2010 at 6:45 PM Report abuse
city said...
build a nuclear power plant in every state that doesn't already have one and be done with it. maine yankee ran for 25 years without 1 incident.
July 21, 2010 at 7:12 PM Report abuse
Liberal Wind Scam! said...
Where's the whinning racist ValdezGreen's comment on this one?
July 21, 2010 at 7:58 PM Report abuse
said...
Saco got screwed by Entegrity's faulty equipment, and the Gulf Coast got screwed by BP's faulty equipment. No matter what the energy source, there are lots of shady companies cutting corners to make a fast buck.
July 21, 2010 at 8:05 PM Report abuse
LadyHawk said...
I happen to have hawks eye view of the turbine. From what I can see you could double or triple the size of blades and not get much if any more power out of this non mill. You simply do not have the amount of wind needed to make electricity at this location. I am really not sure if it could be moved to a different location in Saco. I assume that more and steady winds occur in other places in Saco. In appears to me that many people are not looking at all of the facts here. Also sometimes when something we want to have or work does not we keep trying to fix it over and over and over and over again and again and again. Saco wants to "GREEN" by having this non mill up at least up the Saco City Council can said that they are doing what they can. So what if costs more money that it will ever get back. It hard to admit that you may have made a mistake or two. City Council of
July 21, 2010 at 8:45 PM Report abuse
Jack_Pine said...
UMPI's $2 million turbine is at only 11% of capacity after its first 14 months. It's a total disaster yet the university administration has made a movie about it and called it a "great success". We are living in the gulagsphere my friends. See the following site for the production details: -------------------- http://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/tick-tock-tick-tock-why-is
July 21, 2010 at 9:13 PM Report abuse
nowind said...
The towns got suckered and were too lazy to dig in and research the wild wind claims. Cut your losses and be more careful with your citizens tax money. Spend it like it was yours!!!
July 21, 2010 at 9:28 PM Report abuse
AmurcansRDumbAsDirt said...
The oil, coal and gas interests seem to use the same tactics as taught to the Republicans by Karl Rove. Show up in force, and do nothing but mock and gainsay. Sad to say, but they are a microcosm of the United States. A country living on its past, currently populated mostly by the fat and pig ignorant. Sure, let's just keep doing the same thing that we have been doing, then panic again when the oil price spikes, as it will. While we're at it, let's water down any financial reform legislation to make sure that we don't prevent another country like Enron from ripping off the nation. Yeah, that will work.
July 22, 2010 at 12:31 AM Report abuse
Jake Mulligan said...
AmurcansRDumbAsDir-- When you get your breath back from your rant, would you please inform us as to the location of the country of Enron?
July 22, 2010 at 4:58 AM Report abuse
said...
I wonder if any of the experts have given thought to what might happen if every household in the world put a wind turbine on their roof? Do you think the result might be changing the earth’s rotational speed? Do you think we might actually drive the earth into a new orbit that is no longer life supporting? We need answers here people!!!
July 22, 2010 at 8:26 AM Report abuse
J Whalen said...
Show me 1 private company that would make a decision like the this Government did... almost a 1/4 million taxpayer dollars down the drain... Government should not be making decisions like this. Ever notice the enormous BANKRUPT wind farm near Death Vally California? Half the turbines don't turn... Nuclear is the only way to go folks. Face it.
July 22, 2010 at 10:21 AM Report abuse
J Whalen said...
Show me 1 private company that would make a decision like the this Government did... almost a 1/4 million taxpayer dollars down the drain... Government should not be making decisions like this. Ever notice the enormous BANKRUPT wind farm near Death Vally California? Half the turbines don't turn... Nuclear is the only way to go folks. Face it.
July 22, 2010 at 10:26 AM Report abuse
COMMON_CENTS said...
The Portland Planning Office is currently drafting a wind ordinance which will promote the use of wind energy....unfortunately, the way it is written it won't protect consumers from marketing hype, dreamy web sites, and endless promises about how wonderful it is to 'be green'. The Planner in charge of this effort could care less about public safety, consumer ripoffs, and profiteering; in her quest to install wind turbines on the roofs of Portland's buildings. I find it odd, that a regulatory ordinance is both promotional and yet has elements of over regulation. ... It's only a draft and this ignorant---only because she won't read about the failure of wind turbines at Kittery, Saco, and UMPI to even come close to the marketing hype; planner is part of the problem that results in squandering tax subsidies on pipe dreasms--at least you get some opium first!
July 22, 2010 at 10:42 AM Report abuse
Chris A said...
Nuclear is certainly an option, especially if you like a power source that requires huge government subsidies to exist. Of course nuclear is taboo in the green world crowd, where they are still looking to harness the energy produced when leg hair grows. Everyone forgets that the world economy runs on petroleum, it is a commodity with the existence of entire nations dependent on a worlds thirst for the black gold. The world has to be weaned off from oil, slowly, carefully, and pretty much at the pace for which the world will run out of it. There is all sorts of talk about getting rid of petroleum dependency, but politically there is absolutely no desire to do so. Until the next real energy source is introduced, which may already be sitting in a closet someplace, oil will be making the world go around.
July 22, 2010 at 10:46 AM Report abuse
COMMON_CENTS said...
There are def. insiders to these decisions; companies who have the right political connections to sway government decisions away from sound judgment and into the smooth sales pitches of young hucksters---Canadians, even! Why a public entity would select a startup with no track record and believe their promises is a startling indictment of vanity government...public officials, often elected, who want to look 'good' for their various environmental and 'green' constituencies. They abandon common sense and judgment and pick the loser! ....you'd think after those utterly stupid decisions of the Baldacci administration in hiring a Canadian software company to design the MAINECARE billing system, people would wake up to the gullibility of public officials! The turbine in SACO is no more than a very expensive vanity plate for a long standing DEM regime!
July 22, 2010 at 10:52 AM Report abuse
NameNameWhatsInAName said...
the people & idealogy pushing windmills today are the same numbnuts that used political activism to stop the widening of 95 to Boston in the late 80s. Remember that? It was 2 lane with no shoulder, crowded & dangerous. But they insisted it was bad to widened because we all needed to start using mass transit. And we all suffered because of this minority group's viewpoint, abetted by the idiots in the PortlandPress editorial board. Finally a decade later common sense prevailed - and it was widened with a 3rd lane plus shoulder. The opposition faded away with no apologies moving on to other issues...everybody should keep this in mind as this same group attempts to saddle this state with windmills that will double our electric bills which will in turn kill any new industry from coming here. This idealism - lacking common sense - has a real cost if left unchecked.
July 22, 2010 at 10:53 AM Report abuse
Common_Cents said...
Did Barry Hobbins or members of his law firm have any contact with Entegrity--what's in a name. Comments from a Canadian perspective: "After a strong 2008, Entegrity was staffed to put out 125 machines in 2009, Heath said. However, citing delays in businesses receiving money from the federal stimulus program, the orders didn't come as projected, he said. "I saw it as a valley, (the Canadian courts and lenders) saw it as a cliff," he said. Read more: Entegrity Wind Systems's CEO hopes to restart firm - Boulder Daily Camera http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_13697548#ixzz0uQgBHQka DailyCamera.com
July 22, 2010 at 12:30 PM Report abuse
COMMON_CENTS said...
BARRY HOBBIN's fingerprints are all over this fiasco, after all: "June 4, 2009 Governor Signs Ocean Energy Legislation AUGUSTA - Governor John E. Baldacci today signed LD 1465, An Act To Facilitate Testing and Demonstration of Renewable Ocean Energy Technology. The Governor's bill, sponsored by Senator Barry Hobbins, establishes a streamlined permit process for companies that want to test promising new renewable ocean energy technologies in appropriate sites in the Gulf of Maine. Up to five such sites will be selected by Dec. 15, 2009. Mal Leary
July 22, 2010 at 12:37 PM Report abuse
Anguish dah king! said...
Ah, another dream shattered...how public money makes a handful of insiders rich by taking the risks out of their investments: by Christine Parrish Feature Writer Matthew Simmons, chairman and president of the Ocean Energy Institute, told Governor John Baldacci, Representative Hannah Pingree, and representatives from the state, local and energy development communities that Maine is poised to lead the way in developing a new energy industry that can be exported to the world. The institute will pursue investment, research, development, and construction of energy derived from the sea, including off-shore wind power. "This is where the dream meets reality," said Simmons at a VIP open house on Tuesday, July 20. The institute will remain part nonprofit, but the focus will mostly shift to the for-profit arm. Simmons has started rousing investors and plans an initial public offering this fall."
July 22, 2010 at 1:24 PM Report abuse