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Wednesday,
January 21, 2015
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Winds of change wreak
havocCape Wind.
Winds of change wreak havoc on Cape
Wind. EverythingWestport.com Wednesday,
January 21, 2015 Winds of change wreak havoc on Cape Wind. Simple economics may have dealt
a fatal blow to the Nantucket Wind Farm first imagined by founder Jim Gordon 40
years ago when the entrepreneur founded Energy Management Inc. just days
after his BU graduation. Now, that dream lies
in shambles as deals with NStar and National Grid
to buy up to o 75% of the generated power have fallen apart; both companies having
recently terminated their power purchase agreements with the proposed offshore
wind farm. Unfortunately for Cape Wind, the company has missed critical milestones
and has given the twin utility sisters an opportunity to bail out of expensive
energy production pacts in the face of low natural gas prices and oil below
$50 a barrel. And Westport homeowners,
businesses and town facilities may be the better for it. Opponents of the
project have long argued that former Governor Deval
Patrick cajoled the companies to sign contracts with Cape Wind, guaranteeing the
offshore wind farm would receive almost 20 cents per kilowatt hour to start. And many would argue
that government subsidies and tax credits allow for the production of expensive
green energy projects that would never have gotten off the ground without
them. Ultimately, consumers
will pay the extra cost through their utility bills, and no one truly knows
the long-term cost of wind energy when turbines wear out and require
expensive maintenance repairs without the help of subsidies and tax credits. Recently a Portsmouth,
RI turbine broke down, requiring half a million dollars in repairs, money the
town simply didn’t have. The turbine remains idle. Westport consumers
at the beginning of the new year face double-digit electric utility rate increases.
And lately the town was forced to renegotiate a contract with a new vendor to
control large increases in its utility bill. Ironically, the
City of New Bedford may be the biggest loser as its vision as their wind
energy center is now jeopardized. “The New Bedford
Wind Energy Center and the city of New Bedford have always considered
ourselves strong partners with the team at Cape Wind and have been supported
of their project,” New Bedford Economic Development Council Executive Director
Derek Santos said. “It has always been about laying the foundation for the
establishment of a new American industry,” Santos told the Standard Times. Cape Wind
believes the contract terminations with the two utilities are not valid,
according to their Communications Director Mark Rogers. New Bedford Mayor
Jon Mitchell is still optimistic for the emerging wind industry, saying it is
“far greater than one project.” “The arrival of
the offshore wind industry here in the northeast is inevitable,” Mitchell.
The mayor expects this potentially fatal setback to be settled in court. 116-year-old Westport farm hit hard by wind
turbine failures. Local produce
producer Nouquochoke Orchards’ three wind turbines
have lain idle for quite some time, losing thousands of dollars “we could
have used to sustain our business,” said George Smith, proprietor. The turbines
failed shortly after they were installed, and a change in ownership of the
turbine supplier has hampered any kind of resolution without the farm spending
tens of thousands of dollars to repair them. © 2015 Community Events of Westport. All rights
reserved. EverythingWestport.com |