Coakley recommends Cape Wind contract

By Erin Ailworth, Globe staff

Attorney General Martha Coakley today recommended that state officials approve utility company National Grid's revised contract to purchase electricity from the offshore energy project, Cape Wind, at a reduced cost.

Coakley, who helped negotiate the 10 percent drop in price late last month, made her recommendation in a four-page filing (pdf) with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, which is reviewing the proposed contract. In a separate filing, Coakley also formally withdrew her request for confidential cost and pricing information for Cape Wind.

National Grid originally agreed to purchase power from Cape Wind at a starting price of 20.7 cents per kilowatt hour in 2013, when developers expect the wind farm to begin operating. That's significantly more than what the utility company currently charges for electricity.

Though renewable energy like wind power is typically more expensive than electricity generated by fossil fuels, some have questioned whether National Grid agreed to pay too much for power from the Nantucket Sound project.

Coakley negotiated a two-cent per kilowatt hour drop in the proposed price of Cape Wind's power, to 18.7 cents, with that price rising 3.5 percent each year.

A representative for the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, a trade group that long has been skeptical of Cape Wind, expressed continued reservations about the 130-turbine project.

"We still have serious concerns with the process and with the cost of this project," said Robert Rio, senior vice president for AIM.