Letter to the Editor: WBJ Editorial All Wet
Dear Editor,
Regarding the editorial that appeared in the Jan. 21 edition of the Worcester Business Journal in support of Cape Wind, consider the following:
Measuring wind power in megawatts (MW), or peak output, is incorrect in a most basic way, as when stated in the editorial that the Cape Wind project would produce 468 MW or "75 percent of Cape and Island energy needs." The correct measurement term is MW hours, which takes into account that the wind only blows approximately 30 percent of the time. So, over 24 hours, or say a month, the average output is about one-third of the peak, or equivalent to 154 MW from a conventional power plant that is consistently producing 24 hours per day. Cape Wind wants you to believe 154 is 468, and that it is always there. That is simply untrue.
New England demand is approaching 30,000 MW. The net 154 MW of Cape wind is about .0051 of it - one half of 1 percent. Think carefully about that trade: a 0.5 percent reduction in energy generated to defile the sound? Bad deal.
You laud the Cape Wind group for its tenacity. But why are they so tenacious when even the subsidized economics of wind are so marginal right from the start as compared to other sources? The reason is renewable energy certificates or RECs, which can be worth as much as the electricity. Those who own the source of energy can sell these RECs to utility companies. The RECs have nothing to do with MW generated, only "green capacity." More green energy supply actually dilutes the price of RECs, a perverse incentive if there ever was one. This is why politicians and lawyers maneuver ferociously to keep hydro out of the REC market. All other states count small hydro as green, why not here? It's because those who extol wind for its environmental aspects to your face would get a little less cash in the back room, apparently quite a worry for them.
Well-meaning, environmentally-concerned but technically inept people are cleverly tricked into supporting the wrong thing. Wind or solar can opportunistically displace a small amount of fuel. I am 100 percent for that, but let's keep the scale real.
John Grady
Grady Research of Ayer
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments