LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME


[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]

Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

Get weekly updates
RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Stripe

Donate via Paypal

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Feds consider community agreements for local offshore wind developers 

Credit:  Cities, towns get stake in would-be wind farms | 'Community benefit' part of next offshore wind auction | By Ariel Wittenberg | The Standard-Times | Posted Jul. 22, 2014 | www.heraldnews.com ~~

NEW BEDFORD – The federal government is preparing for another auction of a wind energy area off the Massachusetts coast. But this time, the Bureau of Offshore Energy Management will take into account how a potential developer might work with local communities.

The auction procedure tentatively set up by BOEM in a draft document allows the bureau to consider whether potential developers have entered into any “community benefit agreements.” According to BOEM, the agreements would be legal contracts between an offshore wind developer and community organization agreeing that the organization would support offshore wind development in return for the developer providing some community benefits.

Such agreements will be included for the first time by BOEM in the wind energy lease auction for an area located 15 miles south of Nantucket. Developers with agreements will be given a 5 percent credit toward their bid. That number is subject to change when BOEM finalizes its procedure for this auction.

Speaking at a meeting with potential developers in New Bedford Tuesday, BOEM Project Manager Jessica Stromberg said the bureau does not yet know what forms these agreements could take, leaving it up to the developers and individual communities to decide.

New Bedford Wind Energy Center Director Matthew Morrissey said he would like to see a Community Benefit Agreement between developers and the city, with developers agreeing to use South Terminal for their staging and to employ certain percentages of local residents or minorities.

But, he said, the city has been in talks with many developers, including Deepwater Wind and Cape Wind, for years about how they would use South Terminal and local workers.

“Whether or not these conversations are in a specific auction document is less relevant than the fact they have been happening,” Morrissey said. “That being said, any tool we can use to continue these conversations and reflects the importance of local job creation is a good thing.”

The Massachusetts energy area auction, which could be held as early as November, will be the only one to take into account community benefit agreements.

BOEM Project Manager Maureen Bornholdt said the bureau decided to include them in this auction because Massachusetts municipalities have been asking for community consideration since 2009.

“They asked us what we could do for the benefit of the community,” she said. “Obviously all states are interested in developing infrastructure for offshore wind, but Massachusetts is the only one who asked that community benefit be counted.”

Last year, when BOEM auctioned a wind energy area located between Massachusetts and Rhode Island, community benefit agreements were not considered. Instead, the federal bureau considered whether developers had “joint development agreements” with either state. In that auction, the lease area had been divided into two sections, but Rhode Island-based developer Deepwater Wind won both with a total bid of $3.8 million. Deepwater Wind received a 20 percent credit from BOEM as part of that auction for its partnership agreement with Rhode Island.

Other than the inclusion of the community benefit agreement, BOEM’s auction of the Massachusetts energy area is similar to that of last year’s auction. Like the one in 2013, the Massachusetts area auction will also give developers 25 percent credit for any power purchase agreements they have with utilities.

Source:  Cities, towns get stake in would-be wind farms | 'Community benefit' part of next offshore wind auction | By Ariel Wittenberg | The Standard-Times | Posted Jul. 22, 2014 | www.heraldnews.com

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.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Contributions
   Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)
Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI M TG TS G Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook Wind Watch on Linked In

Wind Watch on Mastodon Wind Watch on Truth Social

Wind Watch on Gab Wind Watch on Bluesky