Maine Lawmakers Approve Bill to Boost Offshore Wind Development (bloomberg.com) 18
Maine moved a step closer to becoming the East Coast's first floating offshore wind location after lawmakers approved a bill paving the way for deep-water development. From a report: The bill, approved Wednesday, includes pathways for utility companies to purchase wind power and for developers to build port infrastructure using local workers, a detail that prompted Governor Janet Mills' veto last month. She is expected to sign the bill in the coming days. The state has a goal to install 3 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2040, bringing Maine closer to its goal of powering its grid with 100% renewable energy by that year. The bill would help Maine contribute to the Biden administration's target of deploying 15 gigawatts of floating offshore wind by 2035.
goal of powering its grid with 100% renewable??? (Score:1)
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This goal is a complete lie. Maine has almost no dammed hydro so how will they power their grid when the wind isn't blowing and the sun not shining.
How about geothermal?
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How about geothermal?
That's as dependent on favorable geography and climate as wind, solar, hydro, and biomass. If geothermal works where people are then that's great. If not then people will have to turn to nuclear fission or see their economy shrink to pre-industrial levels.
Re: goal of powering its grid with 100% renewable? (Score:1)
"The phrase "shrink to pre-industrial levels" really doesn't capture the horror facing humanity if our "betters" succeed in collapsing civilization."
Yes, that's true. If we don't reverse AGW then all of our societies will fall and "Mad Max" will become a comforting bedtime story for the last children. "But how could they breathe without SCBA, mommy?"
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States don't have to generate all of their power. They can and do buy it from other states.
How is that working for Germany? The availability of wind power over an area as large as Europe is going to be highly correlated, as in when Germany experiences a dunkelflaute so will all of their neighbors. Those able to keep their lights on in this case will be those with ample supplies of natural gas, plenty of hydroelectric dams, and nuclear fission power plants.
No nation, state, region, or whatever will be able to maintain a modern economy without nuclear fission.
I used to give a caveat to that above
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YOU CAN'T STORE ELECTRICITY in any meaningful quantities.
Well, yes and no. We have stores of electricity all over the world, done so at low cost and in "meaningful" quantities. We just store that electricity as coal, natural gas, and uranium. Fuel is a storage of energy, that is kind of how we define fuel. We can turn that energy into electricity, much like how we can turn the chemical bonds in a battery into electricity. Coal is as much a store of electricity as batteries, pumped hydro storage, or whatever else people think of as electricity storage.
We are
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Getting to >90% renewable power isn't difficult, and has been done in some parts of the world.
Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.
Electricity storage is being built in Scotland, designed to store energy for weeks or even months, in vast quantities. We build reservoirs for water storage, we can do it for electricity too. Not all renewables are intermittent anyway.
Re: goal of powering its grid with 100% renewable? (Score:2)
Who are you, coward? Besides someone who knows that no one takes them seriously when they post without AC, that is.
So more dead whales and dolphins? (Score:2)
Have to wonder about how environmentally friendly this stuff is.
Why offshore? (Score:2)
Re: Why offshore? (Score:2)
The wind is stronger and steadier offshore. Also, Maine is small and they have fewer empty places to put them.
Great Scott! (Score:2)
3 gigawatts? That's nearly enough to power 2.5 flux capacitors!