The following is response to a letter from Chris Bason that appeared in the Dec. 20 edition.
Yes, Chris, Sussex County Council and the public know how the electric grid works. They also know that the promised upgrades by US Wind to the transmission lines is because they will need those upgrades to send electric to Maryland. Does the power grid need to be updated without the wind farm tapping in? Probably. Could the grid have been updated years ago? Yes. In fact, the grid could have been upgraded back in 2009 when NRG spent $360 million modernizing the Indian River power plant to comply with new state regulations, making it one of the cleanest coal plants in the country, only to have Gov. Markell knowingly mandate to phase the power plant out of service in order to reach the arbitrary alternative energy goals and deadlines that he set for the state.
I also think council and the public understand that the promised money from US Wind to use renewable energy credits to pay for transmission line upgrades is just that, a promise. Renewable energy credits are a shell game, and the price for the credits fluctuate with the market. The costs to purchase these credits are also passed on to the consumer by energy companies trying to comply with state mandates to reduce CO2 emissions. These credits do nothing to offset CO2 emissions nor help climate change. They are simply purchased and used to help Big Wind’s bottom line at the expense of the consumer.
Finally, Chris, you failed to mention in your letter that you are the former director for the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays, and when you were director, the CIB accepted $50,000 from Orsted and $100,000 from US Wind. Shortly after these donations, CIB went from neutral on offshore wind to pro offshore wind and didn’t seem to mind 15 miles of cable be buried under Indian River Bay, even though the key mission statement for CIB is to protect Delaware’s Inland Bays. You also failed to mention you retired shortly after these donations and that about a year later took a job with Orsted as stakeholder engagement lead in Delaware.
So yes, we all know what is really going on.
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