Cape Wind, National Grid Strike Power Deal-


National Grid, a leading New England power utility, and Cape Wind, the controversial company behind a much-debated Nantucket Sound wind farm, filed an historic contract with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities. Under the terms of the agreement, National Grid will purchase power from what will be the nation’s first major offshore wind farm, a facility expected to come online at the end of 2012. The move fulfills the requirements of the Green Communities Act, which mandates that all the investor-owned utilities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts enter into long-term contracts to purchases a minimum of three percent of their energy from renewable production sources. In a statement issued by National Grid, the company’s president, Tom King, said, “It’s truly fitting that the next milestone in our nation’s clean energy revolution is taking place in the Bay State and New England. We believe this project will provide long-term economic and environmental benefits here, throughout the region, and across the nation.” Cape Wind president Jim Gordon indicated the company was looking forward to working with National Grid to diversify its energy portfolio with “pollution-free, inexhaustible wind off our shore.” The agreement, he said, firmly propels Massachusetts to the forefront of the emerging wind power industry. The Department of Public Utilities must approve the agreement, which would become active in 2013.

National Grid will purchase more than half of the wind farm’s output as well as the applicable renewable energy certificates garnered from its operation. The cost per kilowatt hour to National Grid is approximately 20.7 cents. The price, which assumes existing federal tax incentives, will increase 3.5% annually over the life of the 15-year agreement. Based on its projection of electrical rates in 2013, National Grid says consumers will see a monthly bill increase of approximately $1.59 or about 2%. (This estimate is based on a monthly consumption of 500 kWh.) King, commenting on the rate increase, said, “We recognize that all renewable energy, be it on- or off-shore wind, solar or other sources, has a cost associated with it. Carbon-based generation comes with its own set of long-term costs — to our health and our environment. Cape Wind is an investment in our future, and one that we must support if we are to achieve a lower-carbon energy portfolio.” The Cape Wind project has been a controversial one that was only approved by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on April 28, 2010. The go-ahead ended a nine-year struggle to stop the construction of the turbines offshore in Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound. Groups like the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, Three Bays Preservation, Oceans Public Trust Initiative, and Earth Land Institute have vehemently opposed the wind farm as has the Cape Cod Times, which called it “the wrong project in the wrong place.” Audra Parker, head of the Nantucket group described Cape Wind as an endeavor that would mar “treasured public lands” in a “corporate giveaway to private industrial energy developers.” In spite of this opposition, however, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick was a supporter of the project as were a significant number of state citizens who recognized the economy benefit for Massachusetts in becoming a leader in offshore renewables. In the wake of the decision granting federal approval, Cape Wind issued a statement inviting proponents to “join the community and country in ushering in a new era of environmental stewardship, energy security and prosperity.”

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