Who to buy electricity other than National Grid??

[SidecarFlip]

My brother and I rebuilt an abandoned hydro that was owned by a utility, but they shut it down and abandoned it in 1964. We licensed it and rebuilt the place and have run it now for 32 years. Free fuel!! It can make as much as 2350 horsepower under the right conditions. Averages about 6,000,000 kWh per year and the power is sold to a major utility for ONLY <$0.03/kWh!!

Thats neat. I remember back when I was younger seeing an outfit up in Pennsylvania near Warren where a guy pennstocked a hillside spring and was running a hydro plant to power his own home. I bet you guys don't have an electric bill to pay either...... Fairbanks Morse open frame perhapse?

 

[skibumm100]

My town has the PNGTS pipeline that went in 20 years ago, its not much of an eyesore as it runs along existing right of ways but in some places they went cross country and there is a big cut swath through the woods. The snowmachine folks love it but environmentally there are some impacts to the surrounding woods.

I bet the moose and deer like it, too. I drew a Unit M moose tag a few years ago and hunted power lines almost exclusively. That's where all the moose sign was down here. They love red maple clumps that grow up after the utilities cut brush. Not too much serious logging around here. Sorry...a little OT.

 

[bogieb]

My town has the PNGTS pipeline that went in 20 years ago, its not much of an eyesore as it runs along existing right of ways but in some places they went cross country and there is a big cut swath through the woods. The snowmachine folks love it but environmentally there are some impacts to the surrounding woods..

There is an overland water pipe that runs between Antrim and Hillsboro. Big wooden thing (parts have been replaced with concrete). Looks really cool in the winter as icicles form where there are leaks (hey, the thing is like a million years old, so leaks are to be expected). The only time I noticed it was in the winter - because of the icicles. During summer, brush and tree leafs obscure the whole thing.

 

[skibumm100]

Yeah, the Northeast needs more energy sources, but Northern Pass project does not dump any of the enrgy into NH - just supplies more southern states (and maybe even NY? I may be misremembering that one). Then with the Yankee plant being shut down, VT is going to be hurting. Add to that that coal firing plants (regardless of how clean they scrub emissions) are being denied permits - or permits to update to cleaner burning, so are being shut down by the EPA; we are screwed.

You know, I've read that in the paper (numerous comments by Jack Harrigan in the Union Leader) but I don't know how that conclusion is reached. My understanding is that they were going to switch from HV DC in Deerfield and tie into existing HV AC transmission lines. That would deliver power to SE NH, where the population density is highest. People act like the power lines stop at the state line.......they don't. It's all tied together by the grid. I'm pretty sure northern NH is not the big sucker of electricity in the region, it's SE NH and eastern MA. That's why you need high efficiency transmission from the Canadian border to (or close to) the MA line. As long as NH is paid well for the transportation through the state, I can't see standing in the way. They key points (for me) is how it's accomplished (from an esthetic standpoint), whether it's economical and whether the power is available when we need it (as peakbagger pointed out).

 

[SmokeEater]

Thats neat. I remember back when I was younger seeing an outfit up in Pennsylvania near Warren where a guy pennstocked a hillside spring and was running a hydro plant to power his own home. I bet you guys don't have an electric bill to pay either...... Fairbanks Morse open frame perhapse?

Not a FM but a Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton cast scroll cast regulated Francis horizontal built in 1933.