The Answer is Still Blowin’ In the Wind…
Apr 15th, 2008 by Dave
UPDATE: In the piece below, I passed on the information I was given by one prominent Delawarean who claimed that the BWW deal was over and that everyone was in on the deal. John Carney and Jack Markell deny being a part of any deal to allow the wind farm deal to die. I imagine everyone else will deny it also. We would never know anyway.
Here is my contribution. Please check out Tom Noyes, Jason Scott, and Maria Evans.
——–
The Answer is Still Blowin’ In The Wind.
Back in August, 2006, I began work on a series of posts concerning why offshore wind power could be a major solution for the energy future of the state of Delaware, “The answer my friends is blowin’ in the wind, 8/21/06.” In 2006, we were 4th in the nation in per capita energy consumption and dead last in per capita energy production. After reviewing projects like Cape Wind and the proposals for Long Island, including a little-known company called Bluewater Wind, I was prepared to post.
Then it all happened, starting with the now-famous U of D poll which declared that 90% of Delawareans support the idea of a wind farm, even if it costs money. I said at the time:
“Here’s the deal folks. All things being equal, when we get the chance to be the first at something, we need to take it. The effects go beyond the fact that it’s the right thing to do environmentally. It says to businesses thinking about coming to Delaware that we are on the cutting edge, and that means a lot to those innovative companies who want to come in and bring high-paying jobs.”
And as we sit here today, after all that has ensued, that’s where I remain. I’ll admit that I’ve wavered at times as different arguments were presented, but three large factors still dominate the discussion for me:
- This project will put many megawatts of power onto the grid from a clean, renewable source. If it is not built, that power will most likely come from coal or gas or some other traditional source. The power that DP&L is talking about buying from onshore wind farms will come from turbines that are either built or approved, and therefore DP&L will not be creating any new, renewable energy. Maybe demanding new, renewable energy generation for Delaware is not the most conservative position, but I don’t really care at this point.
- The cost stability in the long run will pay off. There is a great concern as to how much the initial cost difference wil be, but by 2013, it may already be less expensive than what we’re paying now. Remember also that this project will not cover ALL of our energy needs. So in the off chance that advances are made in solar energy, or a nuclear plant is built in Virginia and cabled up to Delaware, those solutions can be applied to the remaining percentags of our electricity capacity. Eventually, we can be free of all carbon-based energy. In fact, there’s no reason that as these new technologies are developed we can’t be the first state to be carbon-free in our electrical consumption.
- The final argument is that Delmarva Power is a private company and BWW is a private company and that the state has no business forcing them into a contract. I’ll admit I bought that argument for a while, as those principles are near and dear to my heart. However, in the end, DPL is a regulated utility with a guaranteed profit, and even if it weren’t, the time for that argument was during the HB 6 debate, not now. The law is the law.
A week ago, one prominent Delawarean told me that the project was dead, the deal had been cut, that all of the players, including Senate leadership and the Governor candidates, were involved. It was over. DP&L was one of the good old boys and BWW was not and that was it.
I say that’s bullshit. I have two kids that have to breathe in Eastern Sussex County for the next 80 years, God willing. It’s only dead if YOU let it die. If you refuse to allow the “Delaware Way” to bury our energy future, all you need to do is make two phone calls today:
- Sen. Thurman Adams - 302-744-4318
- Sen. Anthony DeLuca - 302-744-4165
[…] The Answer is Still Blowin’ In the Wind… | DelawarePolitics.net Says: April 15th, 2008 at 6:13 am […]
Congratulations on your very clear and powerful statement of support.
Maybe demanding new, renewable energy generation for Delaware is not the most conservative position, but I don’t really care at this point.
It is sad that conservatives have to gnaw off a leg to get out of their ideological traps. But it is liberating. Again, congratulations.
I have heard the same criticism of my support of the BWW proposal. I admit that if I were writing it in abstract, I would not have designed it quite this way. I think we should spread the cost out over all of Delaware and make it available to all. I think that if it were spread out, we could go with something closer to the original proposal and have the greater economy of scale.
That said, the numbers still work. We can amend it later on the scope of whose ratepayers bare the brunt, but let’s get going. This is an incredible deal. My friends say that being locked 25 years into a price is crazy. I disagree. It is only a minor portion of our power arrangement. It will give us price stability. Prices may go down and up in the future. I see oil going back down to 65 dollars a barrel in two years as a possibility. I see it going up to 150 as one as well. The problem is that I can’t see any scenario lower that 60 dollars a barrel in the next 10 years. That makes this proposal sensible. I predict that when it starts up, it will be a lower cost than the average fossil fuel plant.
Around 2015 we will be wondering why we had this debate. The opponents will be no where to be found.
To back up my point that the numbers work, I will give you numbers. The experts at thePublic Service Commission (PSC) have no axe to grind. They were correct in times past and DP&L was wrong. The current assumptions being used to say BWW would cost us money are pollyannish.
“Tommywonk” said it well ” I am an advocate for wind power, but not at any price.
On the matter of cost, projections that the wind power agreement would cost ratepayers a few dollars a month are based on the startling assumption that natural gas prices will decline over the next four years and will not climb above 2007 levels until the year 2012.
That is not a typo; these projections assume that natural gas prices will not rise above 2007 price for as long as fifteen years.
How does that compare to recent history? Natural gas prices tripled between 1997 and 2007. Given that worldwide energy demand will grow at least 50 percent over the next 20 years, it is hard to imagine how energy prices will not continue to climb. Instead of costing us extra, offhsore wind will almost certainly save us money.”
all you need to do is make two phone calls today:
* Sen. Thurman Adams - 302-744-4318
* Sen. Anthony DeLuca - 302-744-4165
It wouldn’t hurt to call a few Republican Senators too…
When you call, you may remind them that the new federal energy bill has a renewable mandate. Does anyone believe that renewable energy will not be in demand?
Thank you Dave for making the case so clearly.
And thank you David for quoting my statement.
The wind power project is not dead, though its opponents have littered the floor with coffin nails. Getting HCR 38 past the House last week helped. Someone is leaking the draft Energy & Transit Committee report, but the draft remains a draft, and hasn’t yet been approved by the committee.
Please take a look at the Public Service Commission web site and look at the details of the three proposals for in state power. Conectiv, NRG and Bluewater. Suprise all three proposed long term contracts, ever Conectiv, also a Pepco holding as Delmarva is. I wonder if the Conectiv proposal was selected would Delmarva be upset over a long term contract.
Maria Evans deserves a lot of credit for coming up with the idea to bring some of the state’s best bloggers together to drive some nails into Delmarva Power’s ridiculous and pathetic attempts to derail the wind farm. I will say, these four bloggers have done as much as anyone - or any news organization - in setting the record straight. The fact they all have different political perspectives just lends more credibility to merits of the wind farm. After all, how often do conservatives and liberals agree on anything?
Whether you like his politics or not, no one cuts through the crap better than Dave Burris. No one crunches the numbers and reveals the inaccuracies of Delmarva Power’s “projections” better than Tommywonk. And Jason at Delaware Liberal, well, that was just brilliant. And Maria Evans has stayed on the wind farm from the start. Her green is money, and that’s okay.
One point I would make concerns Delmarva Power’s attempt to purchase land-based wind in place of the wind farm. Frankly, it’s just another feeble attempt by Delmarva Power to change the subject. HB 6 was about producing new energy for Delaware, from Delaware. It was about creating new energy to meet current and future demands, not about purchasing existing energy already available. The way to protect the state is to produce its own energy and to have its citizens benefit from that energy production.
When you consider job creation, clean energy, health and medical savings, and the chance to be first, it’s simply a no- brainer.
My feeling has always been that Delmarva Power was trying to scuttle this deal for one reason: to get Connectiv the contract to build the wind farm and keep the energy production “in the good ole boy network.” After all, Connectiv sued after the fact to build the wind farm. It’s about who gets to generate the energy and who gets to profit from it. But it’s simply too late for that argument. BWW won this process fair and square.
If this project doesn’t go through, our political system will have failed us. Special interests will have won over the public interest. The damage to Delaware’s future job creation and their ability to attract new business to the state will have been irreparably damaged. And for what? To keep the incestuous relationship between Delmarva Power and some of our elected officials intact? So does anyone in the Senate - or in the governor’s mansion - have the courage to do what’s right for this state and move it, begrudgingly, into the 21st century?
I hope so, if trends in the price of burning fuels shipping fuel sources like coal and that relationship to food prices holds up in speculative markets, we will start looking like Haiti sometime around 2015 unless we make a concerted effort to head this off today, and with some understanding of how grave the situation is for our citizens. And in addition to the wind farm start looking at sugarcane ethanol, soy diesel, palm oil diesel, algae diesel, and other new hydrocarbon fuels that can be made cheaply and stop looking at corn, wheat or rice ethanol which is going to drive up corn, wheat and rice prices to dramatic levels….they are already up over 200% in global futures markets from last year. A lot of people are hungry as a result.
Gee Dave, thanks for going out on a limb knowing full well you’ll take heat for it! I know you well enough to know you didn’t concoct that story about the awful alleged “deal” among the Dems. The best way to deal with a rumor is to expose it, and you did that. Dave, I won’t stop fighting for clean air for you and your kids, and for every parent in Delaware who’s asking tonight, “When is the Senate going to act for our future instead of the past?”