Federal Lawmakers Urge Christie to Get the Lead Out on Offshore Wind

On February 26, Cape Wind also requested that its federal lease be suspended for two years, which the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) granted on July 24.

The country has long lagged behind other nations in developing offshore wind, but the first such US projects are finally nearing completion, with five turbines scheduled to be in operation off Rhode Island’s coast by next year.

Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Middlesex/Monmouth) weighed in favorably on the news.

To further buttress Duffy’s claims, Cape Wind received two-year extensions from both the Massachusetts Energy Siting Board, as well as the Independent System Operator of New England (ISO-NE), where the project holds the first queue position among active projects. The law would allow the offshore developers to be paid for the electricity the turbines produce, largely by subsidies from utility ratepayers.

“As we celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005, it is disheartening to see that while land-based wind and solar have reached new heights, United States of America offshore wind has remained a missed opportunity”, says the paper’s lead author, Jeremy Firestone, who is a professor in CEOE’s School of Marine Science and Policy and directs CCPI. However, such lease holders would need to route their proposals through NIWE, which will be nodal agency for development of offshore wind energy.

“We encourage your administration to move as quickly as possible to fully implement OWEDA, to ensure a clear and robust state policy to complement the efforts of the federal government, ” the letter said.

“Especially after such an exciting week in the cause for climate action, we welcome continued progress toward clean, renewable offshore wind power”, said Rob Sargent, energy program director at Environment America.

Democrats from New Jersey’s congressional delegation are prodding the Christie administration to finalize a key funding mechanism for offshore wind energy projects in light of an impending federal auction to sell lease rights for wind farms off the New Jersey coast.

Full development of the relatively shallow water tracts that begin about seven miles off the shoreline could create as much as 3,400 MW of nameplate offshore wind capacity, enough to power 1.2 million homes, according to BOEM estimates.

Another setback for offshore wind in New Jersey has been the BPU’s repeated rejection of a pilot offshore wind project proposed by Fisherman’s Energy.

The Feds plan to auction two leases from November 9 to November 13.