Time For Change

Chuck Kleekamp provided factual insight into the cost of energy in southeastern Massahcusetts because of the Mirant Canal plant for those who missed it --
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Allow me to share with readers some pertinent facts of the oil fueled steam powered Canal plant. This was the most efficient oil fired steam power plant in the age when it was constructed in 1978. But times have changed. Modern natural gas fired combustion turbine plants are much more efficient now.
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Specifically, the efficiency of Canal's unit 1, a base load unit is 38%. Unit 2, a cycling unit is 34%. And if unit 2 is fired with natural gas its efficiency is only 32%. Compare that to a gas fired combustion turbine plant where the efficiency is over 50%. Almost half the generating plants in New England are now gas fired turbine plants. The hand writing is on the wall.
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$350 Million paid by consumers would have accomplished a great deal if utilized with a plan for the future, as Rep Patrick explains --
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Customers paid $350 million to run Mirant Electric as backup --
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State Rep. Matthew Patrick, D-Falmouth, looks back at those years and that money, and wonders aloud what else that $350 million could have been used for.
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Photovoltaic energy panels on every roof. Wind turbines throughout the Cape. A one-third share of the proposed Cape Wind offshore turbine farm.
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The issue of how local ratepayers came to spend so much money without being asked is prompting Patrick and other Cape residents to take a closer look at the relatively obscure way that electricity is managed in Massachusetts and New England.
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The state representative wants state and federal energy regulators to better encourage reducing demand and to increasing the role that renewable energy and smaller, distributed generators play in the power grid's supply.
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At present, the state's new Green Communities Act mandates that all new energy generation be compared to new energy efficiency programs or renewable energy to determine the least cost, not only economically but to society and the environment as well.
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"Do we just go on mindlessly accommodating new fossil fuel generation or transmission for large generators without considering distributed generation? Apparently, if the industry has its way, we do."
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Our laws and regulations need to be re-considered to provide for the 21st Century with emphasis on efficiency and alternatives. Rep. Patrick's proposals make great sense. It's time to move beyond this issue and get the job done!