Offshore wind may finally take off with big projects, none named Cape Wind

[unhappycamper]

http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2016/03/23/offshore-wind-may-finally-take-off-with-big-projects-none-named-cape-wind/FZ9Ng715HYkgKFFoNtlZHN/story.html



The London Array is the world’s largest offshore wind farm. One of its developers is among those planning New England projects that, together, could produce five times as much electricity, enough to power more than 1 million homes.

Offshore wind may finally take off with big projects, none named Cape Wind
By Ann Berwick March 23, 2016

THE MOOD WAS OPTIMISTIC at the 2016 US Offshore Wind Leadership Conference in Boston on February 29 and March 1. The event , hosted by the advocacy organization OffshoreWind: Massachusetts, brought together some 300 developers, experts, and legislators. And while Matthew Beaton, the state’s secretary of energy and environmental affairs, said wind needs more study, others were less guarded. “Offshore wind is poised to take off in the United States,” US Senator Ed Markey said in his keynote address. Two days later, after meeting with developers, Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo told the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce that the state has “the opportunity to launch a new industry that is successful in other parts of the world, right here at home.”

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However, progress on Cape Wind stalled more than a year ago, when Gordon missed an important financing deadline and National Grid and NStar (now Eversource) walked away from their contracts to buy three-fourths of the project’s power. Gordon is still fighting for Cape Wind — he says he “eagerly anticipates” competing with other offshore wind companies — but the outlook remains uncertain at best.

In light of Cape Wind’s contentious history, it might seem ridiculous to suggest that Massachusetts could be on the verge of finally building an offshore wind industry — or that it would want to. But the industry has come a long way, and now is the time to get behind it.

IN RECENT YEARS, GENERATING electricity using offshore wind has become wildly successful in Europe. At the end of 2015, it had 3,230 offshore wind turbines in a total of 84 farms, providing enough electricity to power more than 7 million homes.

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The Gov wants to:

a) have Mass electricity users pay pay for Exelon gas lines all over the state AND build new LNG powered generation stations or
b) sign a long term agreement for Canadian hydro-power or
c) do anything other than renewable.