Green power and a visit from Russian press
Source: Portsmouth Herald News ()
A way to open up the state’s logjam in building renewable energy projects could come out of a proposed 10-state regional greenhouse initiative. According to the Public Utilities Commission, the North Country needs a power line upgrade in the $200-million range to help developers build hundreds of megawatts of future wind farms and biomass electricity plants. Those could meet most of the state’s goal of producing 25 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025.
Until they win approval or drop out, those projects at the head of the line are blocking plans for a 600-megawatt gas-fired plant somewhere in Rockingham County. The would-be developer is unidentified on the Web site of the ISO-New England electric grid. The federal approval process accepts applicants on a first-come, first served basis.
The existing Public Service lines in Coos County have fewer than 100 megawatts of extra carrying capacity, not quite enough for the first project in the queue. That’s Noble Energy’s plan for a 100-megawatt wind farm on a series of ridge lines. That company and some of its competitors say they might work together to buy their power lines, but none could build the whole upgrade.
Revenue stream
A proposed House bill by Nadia Kaen, D-Lee, would let the state sell 8.6 million carbon emission allowances into a regional auction. Policymakers hope for proceeds in the $15 million to $25 million range, and maybe more, assuming an average price between $2 and $3. The state would use that money to spur energy conservation programs and the production of renewable power.
The New Hampshire quota corresponds to the 8.6 million tons of carbon dioxide per year released by Public Service, the Con-Edison gas-fired plant in Newington, and one like it in Londonderry. Public Service accounts for 5.4 million tons per year of the CO2 in global warming because it traps atmospheric heat.
Those three fossil-fuel burners would have to buy allowances …