ISO New England’s draft plan aims to strike a middle ground. While the grid operator’s working proposal eliminates the automatic price floor for subsidized resources, a similar calculation should still “be applied in certain situations,” ISO New England explained in a presentation to stakeholders in September. “In June, when we launched the effort to remove the MOPR from the capacity market, we made clear that we will do so in a way that doesn’t jeopardize either power system reliability or competitive pricing in the capacity market,” Matt Kakley, senior communications specialist at ISO New England, said in an email.

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HINSDALE, N.H. — The world’s largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun hopes to bring the Granite State’s largest solar array to Hinsdale.

General New Hampshire

Renewable energy supporters want Gov. Chris Sununu to sign an executive order that would lead to more offshore wind development in New Hampshire, as neighboring states forge ahead with similar steps and after a bill on the issue stalled in the state legislature this year. Sununu has lately been a vocal supporter of wind as a climate change solution but hasn’t issued the mandates many other East Coast states have used.

Offshore Wind Energy Policy New Hampshire

After a decade in operation, the 33-turbine, 99-megawatt Granite Reliable Power commercial wind farm in Coos County is about to be sold, and the buyer and seller want to keep the purchase and sale agreement from the public.

General New Hampshire

Recent recommendations from a subcommittee of New Hampshire’s Site Evaluation Committee (SEC) disappointed some neighbors to the Antrim Wind turbine project who wanted more precise sound measuring standards than what the committee appears poised to adopt, but the conversation is far from over.

Impact on Landscape Noise New Hampshire

TransAlta, the company operating Antrim’s wind turbine project, affirmed their obligation to properly operating and maintaining the radar-activated aircraft warning lights on the turbines. Their announcement came as a response to concerns voiced by the state Attorney General’s office in late May. TransAlta has “always accepted” the obligation to properly operate and maintain its turbine lighting system.

Lighting New Hampshire

“Antrim Wind appears to argue that, although it is working in good faith to ensure a functioning ADLS, these efforts are essentially gratuitous,” Senior Assistant Attorney General and Chief of the Environmental Protection Bureau Allen Brooks wrote in the analysis. “if this position is accepted, Antrim Wind is under no obligation to ever properly run the ADLS.”

Lighting Legal New Hampshire

"This is really not an easy path forward,” said Emily Reichert, CEO of Greentown Labs, a green energy tech incubator in Somerville, Mass. “You have to prioritize safety and reliability and keep the lights on and the heat on for everyone and transition to the future.” The region can’t suddenly switch to cleaner sources of energy without ensuring that everyone’s energy needs can be met, said Dan Dolan, president of the New England Power Generators Association.

Energy Policy Massachusetts New Hampshire

What does it say about New Hampshire government priorities that it adds a new and unnecessary office (see related editorial today) but can’t provide its Site Evaluation Committee with someone to open the mail and inform the public about public hearings?

General New Hampshire

“The select board will write a letter to the SEC, voicing concerns from the people,” Robertson said. Richard Block, one of the residents who lives near the windmills, said he is pleased that the board is getting involved, though he wants to see results. “It remains to be seen if the board will be proactive enough, but we’ll be watching,” Block said.

Impact on People Noise New Hampshire

John Robertson, chairman of the select board, said the board has been hearing from residents who have problems with the noise generated by the $60 million Antrim Wind project. Residents have been complaining about the wall-shaking noise the windmills make, and the near-constant flashing lights.

Impact on People Noise New Hampshire

“The SEC meeting yesterday was perhaps the most frustrating I have ever witnessed and I’ve been intervening before the SEC for 15 years,” Linowes related in an email on March 26th. “The problem is tied to a Chair who cannot seem to keep track of the facts in front of her, Committee members who are disengaged, ignorant about the SEC, and easily confused, and a bureaucratic body that is feeling beat up by the public and afraid to act. The only outcome of yesterday was that the Nov 23 meeting and acceptance of the Antrim Wind monitoring report meant nothing beyond the Committee taking the report in hand."

General New Hampshire

The state Site Evaluation Committee is one pretty powerful entity, which is why its action, or lack thereof, in the Antrim windmill project was so disconcerting. The SEC seems to have righted itself on this one, but only after state senators called it to task for ignoring windmill neighbors’ complaints.

Noise New Hampshire

“Please, when you consider noise with a wind turbine, that it is sometimes loud and sometimes quiet,” Lerner told committee members, reminding them that the intent of their rules ought to be a “shall not exceed” limit. The project’s motion-activated lighting also hasn’t worked correctly since its installation, Lerner said. The blinking red lights on the towers frequently light up,   rather than just activating when an aircraft approaches, as they were intended to, she said, and it’s been a year since both Antrim Wind and the SEC were alerted to the problem, with no fixes to show for it.

Impact on People Noise New Hampshire

Several residents have complained about the noise level. ANTRIM — After several residents in the Gregg Lake area of Antrim continued to bring their complaints about windmill noise, the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee voted Thursday to create a new subcommittee to investigate the complaints.

Impact on People Noise New Hampshire

New Hampshire State Senators Jeb Bradley, Bob Giuda and Ruth Ward, as well as Rep. Michael Vose sent a letter to the Site Evaluation Committee (SEC) on Jan. 29 pointing out that the Committee has been sidelining public complaints about noise the Antrim Wind Energy turbines make in the Antrim area.

Impact on People Noise New Hampshire

What Antrim residents who complained of turbine noise levels are especially upset about is that the SEC, at this meeting that they missed due to it not being directly noticed to them, adopted a report that they believe is not acceptable under the SEC’s own rules regarding the Conditions of the AWE Certificate.  ...So, to summarize, the Town of Antrim was not directly notified of the meeting, those making the complaints were not directly notified, no transcript of what took place in the November 23 meeting – now a month ago – has been made available, and no meeting to consider the complaints has been scheduled as of yet. 

Impact on People Noise New Hampshire

“This is incredibly disruptive to my workday and life in general,” she wrote. “My neighbors and many others fought against the installation of these turbines and they were right to do so. The turbines have been nothing but a constant headache and source of stress for those made to endure their intolerable noise. It must stop.”

Impact on People Noise New Hampshire

The business groups argue that halting the surcharges would provide some rate relief to both commercial and residential customers at a time when many are having financial difficulties as a result of the COVID-19 shutdown. “We’re not looking to decimate these programs, but we are saying, ‘We’ve got to take a breather,’” said Doug Gablinske, executive director of the Energy Council of Rhode Island, which represents large energy users.

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In deeper waters of the gulf, wind power will be achieved only with the use of floating turbines. The extensive anchoring and cabling that would be required means “lease areas will become de facto closures to fishing,” the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance wrote in an April 14 letter the governors of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

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