Community debates $3b Cape Wind deal
Utility says project is essential, but costs worry some
Opponents and advocates debated the first contract to buy power from Cape Wind at a public hearing in Bridgewater last night. It was the first opportunity for energy executives, concerned citizens, and environmental advocates to voice their support or opposition to a $3 billion agreement seen as vital to the success of the controversial wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound.
Most proponents of the project at the hearing stressed its ecofriendliness and the jobs it would create. Detractors said the contract was a deceptive giveaway to big business that would result in exorbitant electricity rate hikes.
Ron Gerwatowski, general counsel for National Grid, the utility that negotiated the 15-year contract, opened the meeting by calling Cape Wind “essential’’ if the state intends to meet its own goals for renewable energy.
Audra Parker of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, one of the most vocal critics of Cape Wind, said the contract would saddle Massachusetts ratepayers with billions in energy costs.
“The proposed contracts are far from cost-effective compared to other available sources of energy, and amount to a huge, unwarranted financial windfall to Cape Wind and National Grid,’’ she said.
Mashpee resident Richard Elrick said critics of the project just didn’t want it in their backyards, and should consider the plight of Gulf Coast residents. “There are some backyards that are being affected by fossil fuels,’’ he said. “We have an obligation, I’d argue, a fundamental obligation, to choose a different future.’’
The hearing was conducted by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, which must approve National Grid’s 15-year, $3 billion agreement to purchase half the electricity Cape Wind will generate.
The deal is viewed as a major boon for Cape Wind, which needs to raise financing to begin construction. The project received federal approval to proceed in April.
Under the contract deal announced last month, National Grid would pay Cape Wind about double the current basic residential rate for power from conventional sources, but the deal will help the utility satisfy state requirements that it receive at least 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.
National Grid signed a second agreement for the rest of Cape Wind’s power but has said it will assign those rights to other buyers who negotiate contracts with the wind farm.
