Session 9 – Blueprint for 100% Renewable Energy
Thursday, April 1, 10:00AM-12:00PM
Co-Chairs: Phil Coupe and Emily Nadeau, Revision Energy
Session Schedule
- 10:00AM-10:20AM – How Floating Offshore Wind Turbines Can Heat Every Home and Fuel Every Car
Habib Dagher, UMaine Advanced Structures & Composites Center - 10:20AM-10:40AM – A New Energy Policy Direction for Maine: A Pathway to a Zero-Carbon economy by 2050
Richard Silkman, Competitive Energy Services
A video of this presentation is available - 10:40AM-11:00AM – Baseload Renewable Energy from Rivers and Tides
Tagwongo Obomsawin, Ocean Renewable Power Company
A video of this presentation is available - 11:00AM-11:20AM – Maine Companies & Universities Have What it Takes to Abandon Fossil Fuels
Phil Coupe, ReVision Energy
A video of this presentation is available - 11:20AM-12:00PM
Questions & Answer Session
Presentations
10:00AM-10:20AM
How Floating Offshore Wind Turbines Can Heat Every Home and Fuel Every Car
Habib Dagher
Executive Director, UMaine Advanced Structures & Composites Center
10:20AM-10:40AM
A New Energy Policy Direction for Maine: A Pathway to a Zero-Carbon economy by 2050
Richard Silkman
CEO, Competitive Energy Services
A video of this presentation is available
Over the past fifty years, energy policy in Maine has been driven alternatively by competitive pressures to keep energy prices low and environmental imperatives to reduce CO2 and other greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. The net result of these efforts is that today energy prices in Maine are higher than the national average, while emissions are somewhat lower. Maine has paid a high price to achieve marginal reductions in GHG emissions.
In his talk, Silkman will look to the next thirty years and specifically whether there is a feasible pathway for Maine to achieve a zero-carbon economy at a reasonable cost. This pathway is based on two pillars – the conversion of transportation, heating and processes to electricity (so-called “beneficial electrification”) and the decarbonizing of the electricity sector through the development of renewable generation and battery storage (so-called “deep decarbonization”). Assuming reasonable rates of conversion of all sectors to electricity over the next thirty years and continuing declines in the real prices of solar photovoltaic systems and on-shore and off-shore wind generation and, importantly, declines in the costs of battery storage capacity, Silkman shows how Maine can accomplish a thirty-year transition to a zero-carbon economy without increasing the total amount it spends on energy each year, relative to the average it has spent each year over the past twenty years.
10:40AM-11:00AM
Baseload Renewable Energy from Rivers and Tides
Tagwongo Obomsawin
Ocean Renewable Power Company, Portland, ME
A video of this presentation is available
Maine has adopted a bold new vision for the future of energy in this state. Our regional electricity grid is evolving, becoming more renewable, more decentralized, and more resilient to climate change. Maine’s abundant coastal and river resources can provide a source of predictable, reliable, and renewable energy for our communities, helping us to achieve our vision for a resilient and sustainable future. ORPC’s river and tidal power systems offer a unique, baseload renewable power source that creates local jobs, diversifies our energy supply, and increases the resiliency of renewable electricity grids. With over a decade of collaboration with Maine’s universities, coastal communities, and local businesses, and over $37 Million spent, ORPC is proud to play a role in our growing clean energy economy.
11:00AM-11:20AM
Maine Companies & Universities Have What it Takes to Abandon Fossil Fuels
Phil Coupe
Co-founder, ReVision Energy, Liberty, ME
A video of this presentation is available
Maine has the highest per capita carbon emissions in New England, and every year Mainers export $5 billion from the local economy to import fossil fuels from away. This over-reliance on oil, gas and propane is not only a drain on the state’s economy, but also a direct threat to key economic sectors, like marine fisheries and tourism, that depend on clean air, water and land. The Gulf of Maine is one of the fastest-warming bodies of water on earth, and rising temperatures and ocean acidification are already having measurable negative impacts on our shellfish and groundfish stocks. The good news is that Maine people, businesses and institutions are taking decisive action to achieve Gov. Janet Mills’ goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2045. Maine’s offshore wind resource has been described as the ‘Saudi Arabia of wind’ (comparing our wind power potential to the vast Saudi underground oil reserves). Dr. Habib Dagher will demonstrate how emerging composite technology can be used to construct durable wind turbines that can both harness our abundant offshore wind power and be durable enough to withstand the extreme North Atlantic marine environment. Similarly, UMaine graduate and ORPC manager Tagwongo Obomsawin will demonstrate how Ocean Renewable Power Company is developing and deploying underwater turbine technology to harness ocean and river currents to generate baseload power from tides and river currents across the globe. Since 2003, Maine-based ReVision Energy has installed more than 9,000 clean energy systems in northern New England. As clean technology costs have plummeted, solar combined with complementary technologies like heat pumps, battery storage and electric vehicles has become cost-competitive with fossil fuels. It’s now cheaper to drive a solar-powered electric car than a gas-powered car, and solar-powered heat pumps deliver heat at the cost equivalent of buying oil at $1.80/gallon. The purpose of the Blueprint for 100% Renewable Energy is to illuminate for people the cost-effective pathways to zero carbon emissions and to demonstrate the impressive progress and significant results achieved to date in Maine. The main conclusion of the work is confirmation of the reality that we now have the cost-effective tools we all need to abandon fossil fuels.
11:20AM-12:00PM
Question and Answer Session