The Rhode Island Supreme Court can not set a date to hear an appeal of the state’s first offshore wind power purchase agreement because the justices have not received all documents related to the case, the Providence Journal reported today.
State regulators recently approved the electricity purchase deal between Deepwater Wind and utility National Grid. The utility agreed to buy electricity produced by a proposed eight-turbine wind farm near Block Island for 24.4 cents per kilowatt hour in the first year of operations.
After the deal was approved, however, state Attorney General Patrick Lynch, the Conservation Law Foundation and two manufacturers filed appeals to the Supreme Court.
A spokesman for the state Division of Public Utilities and Carriers said the records could be submitted to the court next week, the Journal reported. After those documents are filed, however, it could still be months before the court is prepared to hold a hearing.
According to the Journal report, Deepwater is not delaying its development or permitting efforts while the appeal process is underway.
Smaller Cape Wind Would Mean Higher Electricity Costs
If the proposed Cape Wind offshore wind farm cannot secure buyers for all of its electricity it will build fewer than the planned 130 turbines and that adjustment would increase the cost of electricity, the Boston Herald reported today.
The Herald report, based on filings to Massachusetts regulators and public testimony to the state’s Department of Public Utilities, claimed that the state is already planning for the possibility of a smaller-than-projected build-out.
Filings from Attorney General Martha Coakley estimated that the diminished economies of scale could cause the price of Cape Wind electricity to increase from 18.7 cents to 19.3 cents per kilowatt hour.
Cape Wind President Jim Gordon said yesterday that he remains focused on building a 130-turbine wind farm.
State officials also reprimanded the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound — the leading Cape Wind opponent — for releasing confidential pricing data, the Herald reported.
An attorney for the alliance called the release “completely inadvertent.”
Wed, Sep 8, 2010
Business, Federal, New England