Massachusetts ratepayers may have scored a big victory this month. Massachusetts’ two largest electric utilities, who were set to purchase almost 78 percent of Cape Wind’s electricity, backed out of their commitment because of missed deadlines by Cape Wind.(i) Cape Wind is the wind project offshore Cape Cod, Massachusetts, that has been in the works for well over a decade. Because of the high cost of offshore wind energy, it has been difficult for Cape Wind to find buyers for its electricity despite the project contributing to the state’s renewable electricity mandate with qualified renewable power. Only due to arm-twisting, did NSTAR, Massachusetts’ second largest utility, agree to purchase 27.5 percent of Cape Wind’s output. That was added to National Grid’s 50 percent commitment to make the project a go and to obtain a loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy last year for $150 million.[ii] Given that offshore wind is 2.5 times as expensive as onshore wind, if these two utilities can back out of their commitments, Massachusetts ratepayers will have scored a tremendous victory.[iii]
