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New Jersey plan for offshore wind power all wet
Credit: Gloucester County Times | www.nj.com 31 August 2012 ~~
Concerning “Gov. Christie urged to act on offshore wind energy initiatives” (article, Aug. 28):
Imagine you were to purchase an electricity generator for your home. Would you prefer one costing $69 per megawatt hour (mwh) or one costing or $330 per mwh? Wouldn’t paying almost five times more for powering your home make it more difficult for you to save, invest and improve your quality of life?
Any rational person would choose the cheaper generator, but not the New Jersey Sierra Club and a cabal of liberal legislators led by state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-3, who continue to push for a job-destroying, $100 million taxpayer-subsidized offshore wind boondoggle known as the Offshore Wind Economic Development Act.
The costs referred to above are real. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Information Administration says offshore wind is the most expensive method of producing electricity and, for plants entering service in 2017, the levelized cost of offshore wind is anticipated to be a staggering $330 mwh.
Comparatively, the levelized cost of natural gas – which has plummeted thanks to hydraulic fracturing – is expected to be $69 mwh.
Even consultants brought in by the state say the Fishermen’s Energy proposal to implement the OWEDA project would result in the world’s most expensive offshore wind energy. A study by the Beacon Hill Institute concluded that OWEDA would increase electricity prices as much as 4.2 percent by 2017, cost as many as 4,440 jobs and up to $4.1 billion in lost wealth.
Affordable energy is the lifeblood of our economy. The idea that our state’s energy needs can be met by increasing our reliance on expensive and unreliable offshore wind power without economic consequence is a pipe dream. The OWEDA scheme is wrong for New Jersey and, for the sake of our state’s prosperity, should never see the light of day, let alone a gust of wind.
New Jersey needs policies to bring energy costs down, not drive them even higher.
Mike Proto
Communications Director
New Jersey Chapter
Americans for Prosperity
Bogota
Bergen County
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