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Power Authority trustees vote against offshore wind farms 

Credit:  Written by Steve Orr, Staff writer, www.democratandchronicle.com 28 September 2011 ~~

The New York Power Authority on Tuesday ended its quixotic push for off-shore wind farms in Lake Ontario or Lake Erie, killing the idea for financial reasons. At a meeting at the authority’s Westchester County office, NYPA trustees voted 4-0 to shelve the idea. “This was not an easy decision for us to make,” said trustee John Dyson, noting the authority has long been committed to renewable energy projects.

The vote came after Jill Anderson, an authority executive, told trustees that staff had concluded it was “not fiscally prudent at this time to proceed.”

The authority, an independent arm of state government, first proposed offshore wind development in one or both of New York’s Great Lakes in the spring of 2009. It received five proposals from private wind developers in June 2010 and since then had been reviewing them behind closed doors.

The developers were to build the turbines, which likely would have risen 450 feet or more above the water. The authority would have subsidized the project by buying its electricity at a premium price.

Anderson told trustees that despite extensive study, the authority staff “could not come up with a way to lower the subsidy to the point where it would be affordable to the authority or to customers.” The annual subsidy for a medium-sized 150-megawatt offshore project would have been $60 million to $100 million a year, she said.

Electricity from offshore turbines would have cost two to four times more than power from land-based turbines, the authority found.

The Power Authority, which operates large hydroelectric plants and other generating facilities, supplies electricity to select municipalities, nonprofits, private companies and others.

“Finally, someone has the sense to admit that the cost of GLOW is not feasible,” said Suzanne Albright, a Greece shoreline resident who became active in groups opposing an offshore wind farm and who watched the NYPA meeting on an Internet video feed.

There are no offshore wind turbines anywhere in North America. Numerous large offshore farms proposed for the Great Lakes were never built.

The New York Power Authority on Tuesday ended its quixotic push for off-shore wind farms in Lake Ontario or Lake Erie, killing the idea for financial reasons. At a meeting at the authority’s Westchester County office, NYPA trustees voted 4-0 to shelve the idea. “This was not an easy decision for us to make,” said trustee John Dyson, noting the authority has long been committed to renewable energy projects.

The vote came after Jill Anderson, an authority executive, told trustees that staff had concluded it was “not fiscally prudent at this time to proceed.”

The authority, an independent arm of state government, first proposed offshore wind development in one or both of New York’s Great Lakes in the spring of 2009. It received five proposals from private wind developers in June 2010 and since then had been reviewing them behind closed doors.

The developers were to build the turbines, which likely would have risen 450 feet or more above the water. The authority would have subsidized the project by buying its electricity at a premium price.

Anderson told trustees that despite extensive study, the authority staff “could not come up with a way to lower the subsidy to the point where it would be affordable to the authority or to customers.” The annual subsidy for a medium-sized 150-megawatt offshore project would have been $60 million to $100 million a year, she said.

Electricity from offshore turbines would have cost two to four times more than power from land-based turbines, the authority found.

The Power Authority, which operates large hydroelectric plants and other generating facilities, supplies electricity to select municipalities, nonprofits, private companies and others.

“Finally, someone has the sense to admit that the cost of GLOW is not feasible,” said Suzanne Albright, a Greece shoreline resident who became active in groups opposing an offshore wind farm and who watched the NYPA meeting on an Internet video feed.

There are no offshore wind turbines anywhere in North America. Numerous large offshore farms proposed for the Great Lakes were never built.

Source:  Written by Steve Orr, Staff writer, www.democratandchronicle.com 28 September 2011

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

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