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Government overeach in every sector now

justoffal

Senator
I am a fan of powerful recourse for private citizens as much as the next guy is. If I buy a bad piece of meat from a national chain that sees me as a mosquito when I complain..... I like the idea of having the FDA as a counter Giant who can grab them by the lapel and make them listen. But all of that come with a price.

Here is an example of what can happen when we allow government to make business decisions.

http://www.powermag.com/bpa-limits-power-output-from-non-hydro-sources-amid-surging-runoff-volume/

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), a federal nonprofit agency that markets wholesale power from 31 federal hydro projects in the Columbia River Basin in the Pacific Northwest, on Friday said that high seasonal river flows and hydroelectric generation had prompted it to temporarily limit output from non-hydropower resources—including wind. A wind industry group has criticized the decision as “wrongheaded” and says it could cost wind companies tens of millions of dollars.

The decision would “safeguard protected fish and assure reliable energy delivery without shifting extra costs to BPA electric customers,” said the agency that also operates and maintains about three-fourths of the high-voltage transmission in a service territory that includes Idaho, Oregon, Washington, western Montana, and small parts of eastern Montana, California, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming.

BPA said it finalized its interim Environmental Redispatch policy to help cope with runoff from the largest snowpack in years. According to the BPA, the Northwest River Forecast Center predicts this year will bring the highest Columbia Basin runoff volume since 1999. “The conditions could temporarily push generation of hydroelectric power beyond the region’s limited spring electricity needs,” it said. “The interim policy gives BPA the tools to match power generation to demand, which is necessary for dependable operation of the power grid.”

The interim policy, which will remain in place until March 30, 2012, first limits generation at coal, natural gas, and other thermal power plants to keep the supply of power from exceeding demand. As a last resort, BPA’s policy could temporarily limit wind energy generation connected to its power transmission system. Under the policy, BPA will replace any reduced thermal and wind generation with free hydropower from federal dams on the Columbia River system.

Making a Hard Decision
"This was an extremely difficult decision for me. Despite months of searching through a robust public process, there was no good choice here," said BPA Administrator Steve Wright. "I believe we have adopted the option that best preserves reliability, protects salmon and avoids increased costs on average to Northwest ratepayers."

Wright said the BPA took several earlier steps to avoid the necessity of implementing the interim policy, including working with other agencies and utilities to maximize available reservoir space to manage river flows and control hydroelectric generation and offering low-cost or free hydropower to help create a market incentive for power producers to substitute it for fossil-fueled generation.

“Reducing hydroelectric generation in high water conditions sends additional water through dam spillways,” the BPA said. “While some spill of water can help young salmon and steelhead migrate downstream, too much can cause potentially harmful levels of dissolved gases in the river. State water quality standards are geared to provide safe conditions in the river for fish and federal dams are operated with these standards in mind.”

A Wind Industry Backlash
The decision could cause wind energy producers to lose tax credits and other revenues, because their wind turbines do not actively generate power, the BPA admitted, but it said it would not reimburse wind energy producers for lost tax credits or other revenues because that would shift costs to Northwest ratepayers who do not receive the wind power.
 

fairsheet

Senator
I am a fan of powerful recourse for private citizens as much as the next guy is. If I buy a bad piece of meat from a national chain that sees me as a mosquito when I complain..... I like the idea of having the FDA as a counter Giant who can grab them by the lapel and make them listen. But all of that come with a price.

Here is an example of what can happen when we allow government to make business decisions.

http://www.powermag.com/bpa-limits-power-output-from-non-hydro-sources-amid-surging-runoff-volume/

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), a federal nonprofit agency that markets wholesale power from 31 federal hydro projects in the Columbia River Basin in the Pacific Northwest, on Friday said that high seasonal river flows and hydroelectric generation had prompted it to temporarily limit output from non-hydropower resources—including wind. A wind industry group has criticized the decision as “wrongheaded” and says it could cost wind companies tens of millions of dollars.

The decision would “safeguard protected fish and assure reliable energy delivery without shifting extra costs to BPA electric customers,” said the agency that also operates and maintains about three-fourths of the high-voltage transmission in a service territory that includes Idaho, Oregon, Washington, western Montana, and small parts of eastern Montana, California, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming.

BPA said it finalized its interim Environmental Redispatch policy to help cope with runoff from the largest snowpack in years. According to the BPA, the Northwest River Forecast Center predicts this year will bring the highest Columbia Basin runoff volume since 1999. “The conditions could temporarily push generation of hydroelectric power beyond the region’s limited spring electricity needs,” it said. “The interim policy gives BPA the tools to match power generation to demand, which is necessary for dependable operation of the power grid.”

The interim policy, which will remain in place until March 30, 2012, first limits generation at coal, natural gas, and other thermal power plants to keep the supply of power from exceeding demand. As a last resort, BPA’s policy could temporarily limit wind energy generation connected to its power transmission system. Under the policy, BPA will replace any reduced thermal and wind generation with free hydropower from federal dams on the Columbia River system.

Making a Hard Decision
"This was an extremely difficult decision for me. Despite months of searching through a robust public process, there was no good choice here," said BPA Administrator Steve Wright. "I believe we have adopted the option that best preserves reliability, protects salmon and avoids increased costs on average to Northwest ratepayers."

Wright said the BPA took several earlier steps to avoid the necessity of implementing the interim policy, including working with other agencies and utilities to maximize available reservoir space to manage river flows and control hydroelectric generation and offering low-cost or free hydropower to help create a market incentive for power producers to substitute it for fossil-fueled generation.

“Reducing hydroelectric generation in high water conditions sends additional water through dam spillways,” the BPA said. “While some spill of water can help young salmon and steelhead migrate downstream, too much can cause potentially harmful levels of dissolved gases in the river. State water quality standards are geared to provide safe conditions in the river for fish and federal dams are operated with these standards in mind.”

A Wind Industry Backlash
The decision could cause wind energy producers to lose tax credits and other revenues, because their wind turbines do not actively generate power, the BPA admitted, but it said it would not reimburse wind energy producers for lost tax credits or other revenues because that would shift costs to Northwest ratepayers who do not receive the wind power.
This has nothing to do with "government overreach". It has everything to do with our antiquated electrical grid. This region's "problem" is that it sometimes produces more power than it can sell. The wind power investors knew from the get go that per their contracts, hydro has priority over them.

So...why not send all this wind energy to say....Montana or Wyoming or parts farther east? Ask the coal/Kochs.
 

justoffal

Senator
This has nothing to do with "government overreach". It has everything to do with our antiquated electrical grid. This region's "problem" is that it sometimes produces more power than it can sell. The wind power investors knew from the get go that per their contracts, hydro has priority over them.

So...why not send all this wind energy to say....Montana or Wyoming or parts farther east? Ask the coal/Kochs.
Sure I understand that the grid is in terrible condition but I still see this as inteference with the market process.....then again perhaps we could said the same of the Coal magnates.
 

fairsheet

Senator
Sure I understand that the grid is in terrible condition but I still see this as inteference with the market process.....then again perhaps we could said the same of the Coal magnates.
I hear yah but....the interference stems from our antiquated grid. In this case, BPA does have and has since its inception, priority over all other producers. We absolutely do need to get to the point where all the various kinds of electrical generation compete with one another, but the current grid simply won't support that.
 
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