A Real Witches' Brew Of A Problem -- October 27, 2018

As readers know, I find the New England electricity story fascinating (see ISO New England; and, road to New England). An individual who knows this story a whole lot better than I do just sent me a note:

Yesterday,  Maine's Public Utility Commission postponed decision/discussion on huge transmission line (Clean Energy Connect) set to bring hydroelectric from Quebec to Massachusetts.

This is the 'second choice' after Northern Pass was shot down by New Hampshire regulators.

The PUC will announce this coming Wednesday what the developers need to provide - information-wise - and early analysis suggests this project will be greatly delayed or shot down.

Combined with the mega-earthquake announcement that Mystic River will be retired in about 5 years those New England folks are seriously entering precarious territory regarding keepin'  the lights on in the winter.

One might add: keeping the lights on in late autumn and/or early spring might be just as problematic -- certainly just as expensive.

I was very, very aware of this story -- I was not aware of the most recent update -- but when I first read about this story some months ago, I thought, wow, Maine has no interesting in helping Boston meet its electricity needs. This will be fascinating to watch.

Tourism in Maine is sacrosanct, and I can understand the anxiety over huge transmission lines. From a tourism point of view, and from a state's point of view, I would think a pipeline (Northern Pass) would be the best option, but it only takes a few landowners (with judicial assistance) to keep that from happening.

As noted, this story will be fascinating to watch.  

I'm sure the most recent news (that the Maine PUC delayed a decision) is easily found everywhere, but here's one link.

Regulators who have the power to approve or derail a plan to build a 145-mile transmission line through Maine are delaying their decision.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission, which had been expected to issue a decision by year’s end on Central Maine Power’s plan to bring hydropower from Quebec to markets in Massachusetts, filed an order Friday morning saying intervenors needed more time to digest thousands of pages of information submitted in the case. Hearings set for October 30 and November 1, 2018 were canceled.

Instead, a conference has been set for October 31, 2018, to establish a new timetable for the decision.

A new word? "Intervenors" -- a new word for "regulators"?

And look at that, the next meeting is simply to establish a new timetable.

Reading the news article (quickly) suggests that some folks are betting on renewable energy to solve the problem -- with nuclear plants shutting down, there's no way solar energy can take up the slack.

This will be fascinating to watch as it plays out.

By the way, October 31st -- Salem,  Massachusetts -- should be quite a busy day / night in that part of the region. If the "John Proctor" house is still available, it might be spot where the Maine PUC could hold their "timetable meeting" -- if they want to take a short road trip. Sounds like they might need some "spirit-ual" help on this one. It would be a beautiful drive along the coast this time of year, from Augusta, ME, to Salem, MA.

If the link is broken, note:

A house where a victim of the Salem witch trials once lived is on the market for $600,000 just in time for Halloween.

The nearly 4,000-square-foot home built in 1638 was once the home of John Proctor, who was convicted of witchcraft and hanged in 1692. The six-bedroom, two-bathroom home is in Peabody, which at the time was part of Salem.

On another note, it sounds like there might be a bit of animosity between these two states, although it's been almost 200 years since they resolved their statehood differences:

Although it started as a separate colony in the 1620s, from the 1650s until 1820 Maine was a part of Massachusetts. After the Revolution, people living in Maine began a 35-year campaign for statehood.