This recent editorial in the Concord (NH) Monitor gives a look at the death throes of a rather tenacious merchant transmission project. Northern Pass has hung on long past the tipping point, where a prudent investor would have given up and written it off as a loss.
Just how much profit is expected from this project that its owners can continue to spend money hand over fist trying to influence necessary approvals?
As the editorial opines, "...it’s time to acknowledge the obvious: The wheels have fallen off the bus." Northern Pass is politically unpopular in New Hampshire, and there's nothing the company can do to change it, try though they may.
Just how much profit is expected from this project that its owners can continue to spend money hand over fist trying to influence necessary approvals?
As the editorial opines, "...it’s time to acknowledge the obvious: The wheels have fallen off the bus." Northern Pass is politically unpopular in New Hampshire, and there's nothing the company can do to change it, try though they may.
In recent weeks Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan and state Senate Republican Leader Jeb Bradley have weighed in and signaled that, contrary to PSNH’s unrelenting public relations campaign and full-page newspaper ads, the Northern Pass is not a done deal.
Still, Northern Pass persists, like Rumplestiltskin having a tantrum. "Support Clean Energy" is just greenwashing of the real truth, which goes more like this: "Support Transmission Owner Profits." Of course, the latter just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?
There has also been some clear evidence in the past week that nearly all the Northern Pass supporters are those with a direct financial interest, including those at the Department of Energy hearing in Concord wearing “Support Clean Energy – Support Northern Pass” T-shirts. One estimate of the audience at the Sept. 24 hearing in Plymouth was 650 opposed to Northern Pass, eight in support.
When it couldn't convince the people of New Hampshire to willingly drink its koolaid, Northern Pass resorted to intimidation and bullying, and when that didn't work, it was time to simply create an appearance of public support, hoping it would be enough to convince regulators.
Northern Pass offered only bogus informational sessions, with a police presence at the door and no unscripted questions or comments allowed. Citizens were ushered out the door if there was even a hint of skepticism on their lips, and the follow-up was always the same boilerplate letter to the editor from Northern Pass, thanking the locality for the chance to “clear up any misconceptions you may have had about the project.
Ultimately, these tactics don't work. The public wants Northern Pass to bury the line, or not build it at all. Of course, burying the line will eat up all Northern Pass's profits.
This is the lesson to be learned about imported renewables. They're not cost effective and, ultimately, merchant business plans that rely on importing renewables long distance via overhead transmission lines must fail. Localized, small-scale, sustainable renewables are more cost effective and widely supported by the public.
It's time to kill this project for good.
This is the lesson to be learned about imported renewables. They're not cost effective and, ultimately, merchant business plans that rely on importing renewables long distance via overhead transmission lines must fail. Localized, small-scale, sustainable renewables are more cost effective and widely supported by the public.
It's time to kill this project for good.
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