August 11, 2010
Massachusetts

FAA, Coakley decisions favor Cape Wind

By Patrick Cassidy, Cape Cod Times, www.capecodonline.com 9 August 2010

Cape Wind Associates LLC has logged a pair of small but important victories in the company’s bid to build a 130-turbine wind farm in Nantucket Sound.

Today, state Attorney General Martha Coakley filed her recommendation in favor of a contract between Cape Wind and National Grid to sell half of the power from the wind farm.

Coakley had worked with Cape Wind to amend the original deal between the company and the utility, bringing the price of the electricity down from 20.7 cents per kilowatt hour to 18.7 cents. The additional cost of Cape Wind’s power for the average electricity customer who uses 618 kilowatt hours per month in National Grid’s territory will drop from almost $2 per month to about $1.50 per month under the new agreement.

In addition the Federal Aviation Administration, which found in May that the 440-foot-tall turbines would not pose a danger to air navigation, last week denied a request for a review of its decision by opponents of the project.

The move finalizes the agency’s earlier determination.

State public utility regulators will hold a pre-hearing conference Thursday in Boston to kick off their review of the agreement between Cape Wind and National Grid. Hearings to collect evidence in the review are scheduled to run from Sept. 7 through Sept. 17.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/08/11/faa-coakley-decisions-favor-cape-wind/