www.necn.com
December 2, 2009
Eight years into his quest to build a 130-turbine windfarm in Nantucket Sound, Cape Wind CEO Jim Gordon has cleared a key hurdle: New England's biggest utility is agreeing to start negotiating a deal to buy Cape Wind's electricity. While many controversies remain, a deal with National Grid USA, which serves 1.7 million electric customers in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, could be a crucial step persuading bankers and investors to back what could be a $1 billion project.
"I think they understand the potential and the promise that offshore wind has in addressing climate change, in increasing our energy independence, and creating new green jobs and stabilising energy costs,'' Gordon said. "It moves renewable energy much closer for Massachusetts.'' Gordon said if he can land such a big paying customer for the 420-MW project, "a long-term power purchase agreement is critical for getting financing for a large renewable energy project.''
National Grid spokeswoman Jackie Barry said the utility is eager to support renewable energy, but only at the right price. The company's agreement to seek state regulatory approval to negotiate a deal with Cape Wind "doesn't necessarily mean that we will enter into a contract, although obviously that is our goal... One key piece of our negotiations will be to ensure that if we do come to an agreement with Cape Wind that it's an agreement that includes fair and reasonable price for our customers.''
The possible deal with National Grid comes as the Cape Wind project is being buffeted by all kinds of political crosswinds. Interim U.S. Senator Paul G. Kirk Jr., who like the late Ted Kennedy is a Cape Wind opponent, has been urging President Obama's administration not to approve the Nantucket Sound project until a federal interagency task force completes approval of comprehensive new ocean development rules, a process with no clear deadline. Kirk is in office only until soon after a Jan. 19 special election to permanently replace Kennedy.
On the other hand, Massachusetts Governor Deval L. Patrick, who is facing a tough reelection fight and could be out as governor in a little over one year, is fighting just as hard to make sure it gets built before he potentially leaves office.
At the same time, the Federal Aviation Administration is continuing to weigh concerns about how the turbines could affect air-traffic-control radar. And the Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribes are urging the sound be protected as sacred submerged ancestral burial grounds and a place where they perform rituals of greeting the rising sun over the waters. Massachusetts historical preservation officials are so far supporting the Wampanoags' plea to have Nantucket Sound added to the National Register of Historic Places, which could further delay the project.
The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound says Cape Wind has drastically understated how ugly the project will be as seen from places like Centerville, Mass. Alliance leader Audra Parker predicted the National Grid negotiations will finally prove that unless it gets massive taxpayer subsidies, Cape Wind will be grossly and unsustainably expensive electricity compared to power generated from natural gas, coal, or nuclear energy. Proposals elsewhere for offshore wind projects, including one near Long Island, have collapsed in recent years after it became clear utilities and their ratepayers could not afford the premium price for their electricity.
But one national wind energy leader, Laurie Jodziewicz of the American Wind Energy Association, said at an AWEA conference meeting in Boston news of the Grid contract negotiations feels like a turning point. "Cape Wind is the leader, and this kind of continuing momentum is really exciting for us,'' she said. "This is one more step in making these offshore projects real.''
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