USA: Cape Wind Faces New Foe

Cape Wind has been faced with a new foe.

Namely, a newly formed group called the New England Ratepayers Association has written to the United States Department of Energy to disapprove Cape Wind’s USD 300 million loan guarantee which will, as NERA believes, stop Cape Wind development, writes the Union Leader.

In his letter, Marc Brown, president of the group, wrote: “This project will cost the ratepayers of Massachusetts nearly $2 billion over the term of its power purchase agreements with National Grid and NSTAR, who purchased power at two to five times the average wholesale power rate.”

According to the survey, conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center and sponsored by NERA, support for the offshore wind project is fading away.

“When given the choice, 59 percent of the respondents want to get their electricity from less expensive alternatives like natural gas and hydro, while only 25 percent want to get their power from more expensive sources like solar power and wind,” said Brown.

This represents a huge drop in support for the project, as shown by a poll conducted by Boston Globe newspaper the findings of which indicate that 69% of the Massachusetts’ residents support this project.

[mappress]

Press release, June 11, 2013; Image: capewind