Description of Bob Grace study from Pete Didisheim
 As I have mentioned to the Wind Power Task Force previously, NRCM (with support from the Conservation Law Foundation, Union of Concerned Scientists, and Environmental Defense) hired a Massachusetts-based consulting firm -- Sustainable Energy Advantage – to do an analysis for us that would help answer two basic questions:  how much wind power can be developed in Maine (and the rest of New England) over the next 15 years, given our wind resource, location of transmission lines, and other constraints?  And, how much wind power will be needed in Maine (and the rest of New England) to meet our greenhouse gas reduction goals and renewable energy policies.  We specifically asked for an assessment that would help the Task Force develop reasonable goals for wind power deployment in Maine by 2015 and 2020.

Bob Grace is the lead consultant on this work, and we expect his analysis to be ready for a briefing to the Task Force at the October 30th meeting.  The analysis has involved projecting future energy growth, assessing the role of energy efficiency, modeling carbon emission reductions from RGGI, calculating the renewable energy that will be needed to meet energy portfolio standards, evaluating the state-by-state wind data, and allocating an amount of total carbon emissions to wind power.  The analysis will be a detailed and current assessment of the role of wind power within a larger New England energy policy framework.  Bob will describe the assumptions that went into the analysis, and we may be able to do additional runs of the model using different assumptions.