November 26, 2012
Letters, New Hampshire

Private investors would pass on this ‘can’t miss opportunity’

The Laconia Daily Sun | November 26, 2012 | www.laconiadailysun.com

Why are industrial wind turbines being placed in N.H.’s Lakes Region?
Iberdrola Renewables held three town hall meetings last week in the Newfound Lake Region, residents likely heard claims of how the proposed Wild Meadows Wind Power Project will use green energy to “make money for the town” or how it will “reduce taxes”. If only it was that simple.
Those three towns involved (Danbury, Alexandria and Grafton) are looking to enter the energy generating business without a full understanding of the risks that this entails. Spending taxpayer money shouldn’t come at the expense of a risky business venture for which the town has no expertise, and where additional taxpayer dollars are the sole recourse if the Town’s Energy Study Committee (ESC) miscalculated the project’s financial performance or hidden costs.
Is this a “can’t miss opportunity” with no risks? I asked that very same question to some financial friends of mine. Each said that no “professional investor” would invest in this project. Why? The
projected investment returns are too low, the project details too incomplete and the risks too great. If private investors won’t invest in this project why should you, as taxpayers, be asked to accept
questionable returns with little to no annual benefit?
How will the ESC gather operating data on the proposed industrial wind turbine project? Are these towns proposing to enter into the energy generation business to make money, using taxpayer dollars, putting taxpayers at 100 percent risk for any and all revenue shortfall and/or cost overruns? YES or NO?
It’s funny how Iberdrola Renewables and the land owners get to profit and the towns hold the liability isn’t it? And best of all – the end product is being shipped south for a profit.
Remember, when things seem too good to be true……
Raymond Cunningham
Bridgewater

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/11/26/private-investors-would-pass-on-this-cant-miss-opportunity/