Photo: Ayesha Rascoe
According to one study the US has enough offshore wind to power the country four times over. In Europe there are currently 830 wind turbines now installed and grid connected, totalling 2,063 MW in 39 wind farms in nine European countries with over 100 GW of offshore wind projects in various stages of planning. The US, in contrast, generates zero kilowatts from offshore wind. Zero.
Recently Google and Good Energies, a New York based financial firm, have agreed to make a major investment in a proposed $5 billion transmission backbone for future offshore wind farms along the Atlantic Seaboard, a critical bit of infrastructure to move power ashore. Last week, after a nine year legal and regulatory battle, Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar, signed a 28 year lease for Cape Wind, a $1 billion, 130-turbine project in the Nantucket Sound that could provide up to 75% of all electricity for Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket. So is the US beginning to catch up with Europe and the rest of the world? Nope. Not even close. Formidable legal and regulatory obstacles still remain and it is by no mens certain that Cape Wind will ever be built.
Despite Lease Approval, Future of Cape Wind Remains Up in the Air
Cape Wind is riding on a string of recent victories, but it could still get blown off course.
Supporters cheered last week when Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signed a lease for the 130-turbine project planned off the shores of Cape Cod, Mass.
But one of the biggest hurdles lies ahead. By mid-November, state regulators are expected to make a decision about a contract between the utility National Grid and Cape Wind to buy half the wind farm’s power.
Without a yes verdict, it could be the end of the proposed $2 billion project.
“If the contract isn’t approved, we would have to go back to the drawing board,” said Mark Rodgers, a spokesman for Cape Wind. “It’s not clear that the project could move forward in that case.”
And even if the proposal gets a thumbs-up from the state Department of Public Utilities (DPU) commission considering the contract, hurdles still exist, including pending lawsuits and hostility from candidates running for governor.