Dr. Holland’s Cost Effectiveness Analysis of Lowell Wind Project

Dr. Robert Holland is a physician at North Country Hospital in Newport, Vermont.  He has been trained to do cost effective analysis, and has taken his experience in that field and applied it to the Lowell wind project. Dr. Holland’s conclusion is that the Lowell wind project is up to 3.8 times more expensive than alternatives (that would still reduce the same amount of CO2). Summary below, download the whole report in PDF here.

Summary

 

As a country we are confronting major problems and severely constrained

financial resources. In this context, optimal cost-effective decision-making is

required. While the proposal of the Green Mountain Power Corporation to place

21 – 3 mega watt wind turbines has been described by them as “cost-effective,”

this is only true from their corporate perspective. From a societal perspective it is

12 times more costly per ton of CO2 emissions displaced than the average

renewable energy project. The cost-effectiveness of wind turbines on Vermont

ridgelines is limited by a lower quality wind resource, adverse weather conditions

that further impair winter capacity due to icing, and the higher construction costs

compared to more accessible windy plains. While pursuing such projects may

seem profitable from the corporation’s perspective this is only true due to

significant public subsidies. Geothermal and biomass renewable options appear to

be more suitable to Vermont’s environment. The former is actually cost-savings

while the later utilizes a significant indigenous resource. Cost-ineffective decision-

making impairs our ability to function as a country by precluding the larger

benefits of cost-effective policy options.