Offshore Wind Wire

Rhode Island Commission Rejects Power Purchase Agreement

By William Morgan
The Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission yesterday rejected a proposed offshore wind power purchase agreement between Deepwater Wind and National Grid as being too expensive and not “commercially reasonable.”
Last December, National Grid agreed to buy power from Deepwater’s planned eight-turbine offshore wind project near Block Island for 24.4 cents per kilowatt/hour.  That price [...]

Ohio Politicians Tout Lake Erie for Nation’s First Freshwater Wind Farm

By Peter Brennan
Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) announced today that he has proposed a new piece of legislation aimed at installing a large scale offshore wind farm off the shores of Lake Erie.
Brown’s legislation, titled The Program for Offshore Wind Energy Research and Development (POWERED) Act of 2010, would spur research on potential offshore wind projects, [...]

Offshore Wind Summit To Feature Cape Wind, Deepwater Updates

By David McGlinchey
The North American Offshore Wind Development Summit, scheduled for Thursday and Friday in Washington, D.C., will feature updates on the Cape Wind development in Massachusetts and the Deepwater projects in Rhode Island.
Deepwater Wind is also one of the sponsors of the summit, which is being put on by conference organizer Infocast.
Cape Wind is [...]

Opponents Try to Slow Maine Offshore Wind Proposal

By Peter Brennan
Maine state representative Leila Percy has recommended downgrading an ambitious piece of wind energy legislation from a bill into a resolve.
On March 11, the Utilities and Energy Committee of the Maine Legislature held a public hearing on LD 1810, An Act to Implement the Recommendations of the Governor’s Ocean Energy Task Force.  The [...]

Groups Claim Cape Wind Approval Violates Endangered Species Act

By William Morgan

A consortium of anti-Cape Wind groups filed a legal notice Monday claiming that federal approval of the proposed offshore wind project would violate the Endangered Species Act because of alleged danger to migratory birds.
The notice — in the form of a letter sent to several federal agencies — claims that the Fish and [...]

Governors Say Offshore Wind Research Has Been Neglected

By David McGlinchey
In a report released this week, the Governors’ Wind Energy Coalition said offshore wind research and development has been neglected and requires a significant federal funding boost to ensure a competitive advantage over international competition.
The report, Great Expectations U.S. Wind Energy Development, was released Tuesday by the 29-state coalition.
“The nation has neglected to [...]

Rhode Island Political Leaders Back Offshore Wind Pricing

By William Morgan
The leaders of the Rhode Island House and Senate wrote to the state Public Utilities Commission Wednesday to support an offshore wind pricing agreement between Deepwater Wind and National Grid.
One day earlier, however, the director of the Energy Council of Rhode Island sharply criticized the deal and said it would harm large energy [...]

Maine Legislature Plans Thursday Hearing on Offshore Wind Bill

By Peter Brennan
Maine legislators are scheduled to hold a hearing Thursday on an ambitious piece of offshore wind legislation proposed by Gov. John Baldacci.
Under the legislation, the state would set a target of 300 megawatts (MW) of installed offshore wind capacity by 2020 and 5,000 MW of installed offshore wind capacity by 2030.  The legislation [...]

Senators Propose Tax Credit Extension for Offshore Wind

By David McGlinchey
A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation last week to extend offshore wind production and investment tax credits for another decade.
Maine Republican Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe joined with Sen. Tom Carper (D-Delaware) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) to introduce the bill, which will extend the credits until 2020.
“These provisions are vital [...]

NC Offshore Wind Demonstration Begins Environmental Study

By David McGlinchey
Duke Energy will hold a public meeting March 18th in the Outer Banks town of Manteo to discuss the newly launched environmental impact study for a proposed three-turbine offshore wind demonstration project.
The Army Corps of Engineers filed the official notice launching the study in February, according to Duke Energy spokesman Jason Walls.  He [...]