The Cape Wind offshore wind project will cost more than $2.5 billion to build, not including the cost of financing, the Boston Globe reported over the weekend.
The Globe reported on an analysis of the Cape Wind power purchase agreement. That analysis, by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, was submitted to state regulators who are deciding whether to approve the proposed price agreement.
The price reportedly compares well with other U.S. offshore wind projects but is “somewhat higher’’ than prices in Europe, according to the Globe.
New Orleans Blade Plant Could Spur Offshore Wind Projects
Environmentalists and regional business advocates are hoping that the announcement of a New Orleans blade manufacturing plant could spur offshore wind development in Louisiana, the Louisiana Times-Picayune reported yesterday.
The paper quoted David Dismukes, of the Center for Energy Studies at Louisiana State University, saying “their business model right now revolves around making sales to other places, and not necessarily here … but it probably always tends to be the case that when you have manufacturing activities, that you’d like to sell some of your product to the state you’re operating in.”
Resolution Opposing Great Lakes Offshore Wind Fails
Legislators in Monroe County, NY, did not support a resolution to oppose the New York Power Authority’s offshore wind plans on the Great Lakes, according to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
The resolution was supported by only 12 of 29 Monroe County legislators, three short of a majority, the paper reported.
11. September 2010 at 8:08 am
Interesting that, although the MA AG experts have calculated that the _cost_ of Cape Wind is somewhat higher than the _cost_ of European projects, they also conclude (as does Cape Wind’s economist, Robert Stoddard of Charles River Associates) that the _price_ of electricity from Cape Wind is somewhat lower than the _price_ from European projects. This sounds like the MA AG has managed to squeeze a lower profit margin from the Cape Wind developer than the European developers are getting.