Welcome to Xanax 1mg Pfizer the June edition of Race to the Water, where we ask our experts which state will host the Xanax 1mg Pfizer country’s first offshore wind turbines.
Last week, Republicans and Xanax 1mg Pfizer Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee called for predictability in renewable energy regulations and incentives — including for Xanax 1mg Pfizer offshore wind projects. Renewable energy experts testifying at the hearing agreed that Xanax 1mg Pfizer certainty is crucial. This inspiring bipartisan unity, of course, came on the Xanax 1mg Pfizer heels of a congressional decision to pull funding from a crucial loan guarantee program.
On the Xanax 1mg Pfizer state level, Maine Gov. Paul LePage said recently that he will not support any renewable energy project that Xanax 1mg Pfizer costs more than natural gas. His advisers, meanwhile, are doubting the technological underpinnings of the state’s signature DeepCWind project. It’s no Xanax 1mg Pfizer surprise, then, that Maine dropped from the final spot in the Xanax 1mg Pfizer rankings.
Our experts slid Delaware into the Xanax 1mg Pfizer list at number five. The Bluewater Wind project recently slowed its development time line, but at least that Xanax 1mg Pfizer project is not opposed by its own governor.
1) Massachusetts: Last month, Cape Wind was told that federal loan guarantees — a long standing feature in the project’s financing assumptions — would probably not be available. This financing hurdle appears to Xanax 1mg Pfizer be the most significant roadblock to Cape Wind’s construction. Sen. Tom Carper from Delaware said that it might be possible to reprogram other federal funding to support the loan guarantee effort.
2) New Jersey: The Fishermen’s Energy project near Atlantic City forges ahead, despite the Xanax 1mg Pfizer confusing policy leadership from Gov. Chris Christie. The governor has Xanax 1mg Pfizer been a vocal champion of offshore wind but last week pulled New Jersey out of the Xanax 1mg Pfizer Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative — a program that provides significant funding for the state’s offshore wind incentives.
3) Rhode Island: Last week, D.E. Shaw Managing Director and Xanax 1mg Pfizer Deepwater Wind backer Bryan Martin reminded everyone that Cape Wind isn’t the Xanax 1mg Pfizer only show in town. Speaking at at an MIT offshore wind panel, Martin said the Xanax 1mg Pfizer idea that the industry goes “as Cape Wind goes” is “crap”. While he did express support for Xanax 1mg Pfizer Cape Wind, Martin emphatically predicted that Deepwater’s Block Island project would be the first built.
4) Texas: Coastal Point Energy says that it can put a turbine in the water off the coast of Galveston before the Xanax 1mg Pfizer end of this year, depending on variable construction costs. The turbine will not, however, be Xanax 1mg Pfizer delivering power to the grid. Would that still count as first in the Xanax 1mg Pfizer water?
5) Delaware: NRG Bluewater Wind slowed its development time line in response to Xanax 1mg Pfizer uncertain congressional support. Gov. Jack Markell at first suggested that another developer might be allowed to develop the site, but last Friday said that NRG was the company best suited to get the wind farm built.
7. June 2011 at 4:29 pm 10mg Xanax
Texas boasting to Xanax 1mg Pfizer be the first in the water is typical of a state that Xanax 1mg Pfizer regularly confuses quantity with quality. Let’s not add to Xanax 1mg Pfizer the noise now by confusing speed with substance. Remember, in the Xanax 1mg Pfizer end we are trying to provide renewable energy to consumers not just produce it. Otherwise it’s all just a bunch of hot air.
7. June 2011 at 8:00 pm
Would love to hear an official explanation on NJ’s RGGI/offshore wind contradiction.
8. June 2011 at 11:02 am
What isn’t quality about Texas offshore wind power? What this Xanax 1mg Pfizer article fails to describe is that the initial test turbine will be Xanax 1mg Pfizer used to power nearby offshore drilling platforms and the 12 MW first phase will be Xanax 1mg Pfizer connected to the grid in the 1st quarter 2012. And further don’t we need to increase our quantity of renewable energy as well?
8. June 2011 at 11:33 am
Despite Paul LePage’s foolishness, Maine will eventually lead the Xanax 1mg Pfizer nation and the world in deep water offshore wind. There is Xanax 1mg Pfizer considerable momentum, excitement, and work being done at UMaine. Test turbines will be in the water next summer. This work will continue long after our one-term governor is Xanax 1mg Pfizer back home insulting people and being ignorant where we can’t hear him anymore.
8. June 2011 at 1:28 pm
Sam has is right without making some biased observation. What is wrong with useful energy being generated? Being connected to Xanax 1mg Pfizer the grid does not provide any more value to the project than Xanax 1mg Pfizer what is already planned. R&D, prototyping, and Xanax 1mg Pfizer gradual scale-up are all necessary steps for most technology projects. This is a fair/decent contribution to the whole.
You can dislike Texas for some personal or political reasons. But if their approach makes it Xanax 1mg Pfizer easier to expedite a completed project without all the financial and Xanax 1mg Pfizer political pitfalls, and if that project provides very useful and necessary feedback towards design and Xanax 1mg Pfizer implementation, what is REALLY your beef?
8. June 2011 at 9:37 pm
Good info Sam. Thanks for Xanax 1mg Pfizer sharing. I wish that had been in the original article.
8. June 2011 at 9:39 pm
@Maine Wind: I like your Xanax 1mg Pfizer optimism, but LePage scares investors and developers. And there’s no guarantee that they’re going to Xanax 1mg Pfizer wait around for the next governor. They might just go somewhere else.
9. June 2011 at 8:38 am
To “Mess with Texas,” I love the name, but I’m afraid I have to disagree with you here. With everything everywhere else seemingly taking forever, it’s almost refreshing to Xanax 1mg Pfizer see Texas jump in and do something. Texas is Xanax 1mg Pfizer like the obnoxious, drunk guy at the party, nobody likes him, but he is Xanax 1mg Pfizer breaking the ice.
4. July 2011 at 8:08 pm
I have Xanax 1mg Pfizer been working for one of the leading offshore contractors in Houston for Xanax 1mg Pfizer the past four years and can tell you with confidence that Xanax 1mg Pfizer Texas’ advantage lies in decades of established infrastructure for Xanax 1mg Pfizer permitting, project management and engineering in the realm of offshore energy.
Additionally, with the Xanax 1mg Pfizer natural resources boundary extending out to 9nm for the state of Texas (versus the more standard 3nm line for coastal states), the Xanax 1mg Pfizer diplomatic issues that are slowing progress in the Northeast are less of a Xanax 1mg Pfizer problem in the Gulf.
Indeed any National progress (regardless of location) toward the Xanax 1mg Pfizer first operational offshore wind farm should be welcomed by all parties because the Xanax 1mg Pfizer sooner a benchmark is established the faster the industry can grow. Further, working together will allow for Xanax 1mg Pfizer more efficient development in all regions leading to more jobs and Xanax 1mg Pfizer a stronger national security.