Thursday 4 October 2007

Gale-force deal done

Geelong Advertiser
01/10/2007 Page: 38

Aussie company Babcock and Brown will spend about $1.82 billion on a new wind farm off the US. Australian investment firm Babcock and Brown bought offshore wind energy developer Bluewater, which is seeking to build a wind farm off the coast of Delaware, US, expected to cost about $1.82 billion. In a pair of releases last week, the companies said Bluewater would continue to negotiate a power purchase agreement with Pepco Holdings Inc's Delmarva Power subsidiary. Babcock and Brown and Bluewater did not disclose the terms of the acquisition, the Bluewater spokesman said. The proposed 150-turbine, 450-megawatt wind farm would provide enough energy for as many as 100,000 households in Delaware.

The turbines would be located 18km offshore so they will be difficult to see, Bluewater said on its web site. In July 2005, Delaware adopted a Renewable Portfolio Standard requiring that 10 per cent of the state's electricity come from renewable sources by the year 2018, according to the Bluewater website. Delmarva issued a request for proposals in November 2006 to buy power from a plant located in Delaware as per state legislation. This year, several state agencies authorised Delmarva to start negotiating a power purchase agreement with Bluewater. If the negotiations with Delmarva are successful, Bluewater has said the wind farm could start generating some power as soon as the third quarter of 2011, pending state and federal regulatory approvals.

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