New Wind Power Contracts ‘Death Knell for Cape Wind’, APNS Says (USA)

The following is a statement of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound (APNS), released after the news that the biggest utilities in Massachusetts have signed long-term contracts to buy 565 MW of electricity from wind farms in Maine and New Hampshire at prices competitive with conventional sources:

The announcement today that Massachusetts utilities will be purchasing green wind power from New Hampshire and Maine facilities at an average price of less than 8 cents per kilowatt hour is the death knell for Cape Wind. Support for Cape Wind’s massive price tag to ratepayers was based on the idea that we needed to pay more – much more – for green energy.

Today’s competitively bid deals prove otherwise. Cape Wind’s contracts with National Grid and NStar call for a minimum price of 19 cents per kwh rising 3.5% per year to reach over 30 cents per kwh in the final year. No utility, business or consumer should be forced to underwrite a private developer at more than three times the cost of readily available green energy from other sources.

“With today’s contract announcement, the residents of Cape Cod and the Islands, as well as ratepayers across the state, have a right to ask why they are being forced to needlessly pay billions of dollars extra in electricity costs. The twelve year old project is outdated, overpriced and has been beaten fairly and squarely in the marketplace by cheaper wind power. It is time to pull the plug.” 

[mappress]

Press release, September 24, 2013; Image: capewind