supply three-quarters of the 230-megawatt average electricity demand of Cape Cod, plus Nantucket and Martha’s
Vineyard) will cost about $1 billion.
Shrinking Investment
Rodgers says he’s “cautiously optimistic” that Cape Wind
will be built, but renewable energy investment is facing a
headwind of its own because of the credit crunch. The Wall
Street Journal reported in late October, “U.S. wind-farm developers, which have commitments to build a record number
of projects in 2009, are ... scrambling for alternative sources
of credit after the troubles of Lehman Brothers Holdings
Inc. and American International Group Inc., both of which
were big lenders to the green-energy sector.” The New York
Times added that worldwide financing for new wind, solar,
biofuel and other renewables fell from
$23.2 billion in the second quarter of
2008 to $17.8 billion in the third. “At
least two wind energy companies have
had to delay projects in recent days
because of trouble raising capital,” the
paper reported.
Andrew Stern, a respected wind
consultant who runs Massachusetts-based Action for Clean Energy, says
renewables are entering a crucial
crunch time. “At the end of the day,
we need action for clean energy,” he
says. “Without that, it’s just a good
Philippe
Cousteau Jr.
thought. The pace for getting wind
projects approved is just too slow.”
Stern wonders whether Cape Wind,
if it is finally approved, will be able to
finally go forward. “It may not make
financial sense at that point.”
And the opposition is continuing
to fight. The Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound says that the Cape Wind
turbines are each “significantly larger than the Statue of
Liberty,” and that they threaten “a national treasure known
worldwide for its natural beauty.” The group’s catalog of
environmental threats includes oil spills, possible threats
to migratory birds, harm to marine mammals such as seals,
dolphins and whales, and loss of fish habitat.
Audra Parker, the alliance’s executive director, denies that
Cape Wind is anywhere near clearing its regulatory hurdles.
“That’s a big misrepresentation,” she says. “It still needs 20
permits and authorizations.” She describes Nantucket Sound
as “a totally inappropriate location” for a wind farm.
on carbon emissions and the rules that are on the books in
27 states to reduce carbon emissions from utilities. President Barack Obama supports a carbon cap and also touts a
$150 billion, 10-year renewable energy plan.
AWEA Executive Director Randall Swisher identifies
priorities for the Obama administration as “a national
renewable electricity standard, a long-term extension of the
renewable energy production tax credit and a process to help
drive investment in our transmission infrastructure to tap
the nation’s vast wind and other renewable energy sources.”
But the ultimate cost of a U.S. clean energy grid to move
wind power around the nation will likely be higher than the
funding Obama can readily deliver—as much as $200 billion.
A joint Duke Power/American Electric Power venture to build
just 240 miles of high-voltage transmission lines in Indiana
to help handle future wind load has an
estimated price tag of $1 billion.
The national grid will take time to
build, so the immediate prospects are
probably for wind to be used locally.
Several projects in the Northeast
provide intriguing examples of that.
Probably the best community wind
project in the region is in Hull, Mass.,
near Boston. Its two turbines generate
10 percent of the town’s electricity.
Hull, a town of 11,000 people with
a community-owned utility company,
commissioned a Danish-built turbine
in 2001. Gently spinning, the big white
tower looms over the high school
athletic fields, but complaints about
its proximity are few and far between.
During its first year, the turbine gener-
ated 1. 5 million kilowatt-hours of
electricity and a lot of goodwill, lead-
ing to a second, twice-as-large Vestas
turbine in 2003. Again, it was a suc-
cess, generating 4 million kilowatt-hours during the first year.
The next step for the town will be a small offshore wind farm
with four turbines, generating 15 megawatts. Funding that
farm will be a challenge, but Hull appears united in achieving
the goal of more wind power.
Hull, close to Boston Harbor, enjoys strong winds.
Connecticut, much of which is sheltered by Long Island
Sound, is less certain of its resource. But the state has a
strongly supportive Clean Energy Fund, which is underwriting the cost of wind studies around the state. According to spokeswoman Emily Smith, the fund has provided
more than $600,000 in funding, mostly to study the wind
resource. Applications for wind funding have come in from a
hospital, a printing press and a rural farm.
There are wind demonstration projects at three land-based sites in Connecticut—in Kent, New Haven and
If we fIght agaInst a
wInd farm because
we don’t want It off our
beaches and mansIons, we’ll
end up wIth a coal-
fIred power plant.
A Fresh Breeze?
Local opposition can be strong, but financing is probably
the bigger issue. What is likely to help revive funding and
momentum for big wind is a combination of a national cap
