Are you following the Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound as it moves forward? Cape Wind is on track to be the nation's groundbreaking (oceanbreaking?) first offshore wind farm. Here's a quick scorecard of some key figures:
$1,000,000,000.00: yes, one billion dollars. That's how much the project is projected to cost.
130 turbines: projected to generate a maximum electric output of 468 MW and an average of 182 MW
25 square miles: the footprint of the project in Nantucket Sound
400 feet: the approximate height of each tower
9 years: how long the project has been studied -- and debated
700,000 tons: estimated annual reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by displacing fossil-fueled units
And a few numbers for consumers to focus on:
20.7 cents: the initial price per kWh, rising 3.5% a year for the 15-year life of the contract
$1.59: the monthly increase in the average residential customer’s monthly bill
Here are good New York Times and Boston Globe stories on the path forward for the project. As I reported last week, the next step is winning approval from the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities. I have practiced before the DPU, and am confident that the Department will thoroughly evaluate whether the proposed contract meets the statutory standards and is in the public interest.
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