New England Energy Alliance Survey Finds Consumer Concern about Future Electricity Supplies, Desire to Choose Electricity Supplier and Support for Addressing Global Warming

If New England's nuclear energy plants had to be replaced by other non-emitting sources of electricity to meet the RGGI goals, the region would be looking at large-scale wind projects, with weather-dependent output, spread over some 650,000 acres of land or water at a cost of more than $10 billion.

WORCESTER— Absent interest in lower-priced fuels, New Englanders should brace for continued high electricity prices, the byproduct of a regional system heavily dependent on oil, natural gas and coal, the head of the region’s power grid said yesterday.

Governors of the six New England states met July 9 for their New England Governors Conference meeting in Boston to discuss energy and try to forge, among other things, an agreement on funding new transmission lines to bring electricity from remote wind and biomass power plants in Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire to the urban centers on the Eastern Seaboard. The state chief executives met in private for what was reported to be some free and candid bargaining, but participants later confirmed that New Hampshire will likely have to go it alone if it wants expand transmission capability in Coos County in order to make renewable energy projects with a total of between 300 and 400 megawatts a reality.

The Optiwind company cleared what was likely its biggest hurdle toward the eventual construction of a 199-foot wind turbine Wednesday night as the city's Planning and Zoning Commission granted it a special zoning exception. The proposal was unanimously approved with little discussion from the commission and no public comment.

BRIDGEPORT - Planned developments around the city, such as the $1.2 billion redesign of the Steel Point peninsula, may include new energy efficient technologies. During a meeting Monday in City Hall Annex, officials - including Mayor John M. Fabrizi and state Sen. Bill Finch, D-Bridgeport - heard about energy efficient and environmentally friendly options and resources from several sources. Rina Bakalar, Bridgeport's director of central grants, said the city is planning to pursue the use of "green" technology.

The city on Thursday announced it is taking legal action against Southern California Edison in order to prevent tall wind power lines from cutting through the city. The announcement was made at a press conference and rally held by the city and CARE (Citizens for the Alternate Routing of Electricity) ..."Under the existing agreements, the proposed power lines are too large and violate the agreements. Plain and simple - we do not believe that Southern California Edison has the legal right to place 198 foot transmission poles within a 150-foot right-of-way. We are suing Southern California Edison to prove this point."

NEW YORK, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Connecticut Light and Power Co. this week issued a request for proposals to purchase additional power for its customers for parts of 2007 through 2009. CL&P, a subsidiary of Northeast Utilities (NU.N: Quote, Profile, Research), of Berlin, Connecticut, said in a release it expected to pre-qualify the bidders by Oct. 16, with bids due Oct. 30. State utility regulators want to announce the new rates for 2007 on Dec. 1. As required by state law, winning suppliers must deliver 7.5 percent of their supply from renewable sources, such as solar, wind or biomass in 2007.

After briefly wavering, Governor M. Jodi Rell of Connecticut yesterday agreed to sign onto a multistate greenhouse gas pact that Massachusetts and Rhode Island rejected Wednesday.

Legislators in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic passed a number of bills applying to the electric power industry, with several states committing to emissions reductions through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and other states making broad organizational changes to their regulatory processes.

Under the agreement, ISO New England will project regional power needs three years in advance and hold annual auctions to buy power resources, including new and existing power plants. Incentives would encourage private operators to respond to power system emergencies, and operators that don't make extra capacity available would face penalties.

After years of warning that New England's electric grid was on the brink of having to impose Third World-style rolling blackouts, top power officials now cautiously predict the region may have enough power for the near future. Since February, thanks to recent policy changes, proposals for 21 new power plants that could deliver enough electricity for about 3 million homes have come before regional power grid administrators. Those include a $1.5 billion NRG Energy Inc. plan for multiple new generators in Connecticut and a single generator that would burn methane gas from a dump in Westminster, near Fitchburg. The Holyoke -based organization that runs the six-state power grid and wholesale markets, Independent System Operator New England, plans to discuss the projects in a two-day Boston conference starting today .

NEW HAVEN -- The head of Cape Wind Associates, the company that wants to plant the first offshore wind farm in the United States in Nantucket Sound, hopes his project will get a boost from President Bush's remarks promoting alternative energy in his State of the Union speech this week.

A proposed wind turbine on the grounds of the Woodridge Lake sewage treatment plant on Brush Hill Road might get a second wind, as the application is scheduled to be resubmitted to the Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday. The turbine is being proposed by Optiwind, a Torrington company that bills its wind-energy equipment as "smaller, cheaper and more aesthetically pleasing" than typical three- pronged turbines used on large wind farms in states like California and Texas.

The Goshen Planning and Zoning Commission heard comments regarding the application by Optiwind, a Torrington based company, to erect the turbine on Brushy Hill Road. Optiwind was turned down previously, with the commission citing the lack of information relating to the impact of the turbine on area home values and the absence of noise data for the proposed structure. Optiwind presented testimony from experts and company officials in support of its application.

New England is possessed of much talent but looses a considerable portion of it to other states due to the regions relative weakness in providing for a reasonable priced cost of living even though taxes do not appear to be a competitive disadvantage to New England.

While several Goshen residents spoke in favor of the application, others felt that the Optiwind design and placement is bad for the neighborhood. Elaine Frost resides on Beach Street near the proposed tower, and owns 150 acres of land adjacent to the Sewer District property. Frost is not convinced that the data submitted by Optiwind consultants is accurate, and she has joined with other residents to hire an attorney to help them oppose the plan. "I call them the Not Quite True Crew," Frost said of the experts and the reports that they submitted. "I believe that the appraisers were given specific information and visualization points that favored the applicant. They were inaccurate and selective."

Yet, despite the operation of New Jersey’s small wind project since January, there is uncertainty about whether wind farms, particularly gigantic turbines positioned off the region’s coastline, will be embraced here. On Long Island, a 40-turbine project being considered off the South Shore is facing stiff resistance from opponents who argue that the turbines will damage pristine ocean views, fail to deliver cost-effective electricity and create environmental problems. In New Jersey, powerful local politicians have lined up behind wind power, where up to 80 turbines — rising 380 feet or more above the water along the South Jersey coastline — have been proposed to take advantage of the near-constant breezes.

New England will need to add power plants capable of generating 4,300 megawatts, and $3.4 billion of additional transmission investment, by 2015 to avoid blackouts, the region’s grid operator says. The area will need 170 megawatts of new power before the summer of 2009 to assure adequate supplies, according to ISO New England Inc., the power grid and wholesale market operator that serves the region’s 14 million people........ If a 1,000 megawatt coal or nuclear power plant had been installed in 2005, buyers in the wholesale market would have saved $600 million in power costs, the report said.

The head of New England's biggest natural gas utility promised yesterday that homes and businesses across the region will face no shortage of gas for heating this winter.