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A plan to build the nation's first offshore wind farm cleared a key hurdle today, winning state approval of an environmental report submitted by the project's developers. Cape Wind Associates hope to build 130 windmills in federal waters in Nantucket Sound. The turbines would up to 440 feet above sea level when the tallest blade is pointing straight up.
The project still needs to clear federal regulatory hurdles before moving forward.
Cape Wind Associates has touted its project as a safe, clean way to create renewable energy, a safer environment and new jobs.
But opponents fear the environmental and economic effects on Cape Cod's tourist and fishing industries. They warn the turbines would pose navigational and radar hazards. They also say the turbines could hurt the views of some multimillion-dollar oceanfront homes.
Ian Bowles, the state's secretary of energy and environmental affairs, approved the environmental report in a ruling announced Friday. He said it "adequately and properly complies" with state environmental laws.
December 18, 2006: Mass. supreme court affirms Cape Wind project's plans for transmission lines.
By AP |
BOSTON --The state's highest court on Monday upheld a decision permitting construction of transmission lines to bring electricity from the Cape Wind project to shore.
The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a May 2005 decision by the state Energy Facilities Siting Board that was challenged by a group opposing the Cape Wind project.
The high court said the board adopted "an eminently reasonable and practical approach to the uncommon jurisdictional issues presented by the petition" seeking to build a pair of 18-mile-long transmission lines.
If it receives needed federal approval, Cape Wind would become the nation's first offshore wind farm.
Hull, Massachusetts, Wins DOE Wind Power Pioneer Award
November 07, 2006 from the website www.eere.energy.gov/news/
The Town of Hull, Massachusetts, has won the Department of Energy's Wind Power Pioneer Award. The distinction recognizes the Town of Hull for its outstanding leadership in advancing the use of wind power in a coastal community. Hull has been a model for engaging the entire community to understand and move forward together on its wind power project, from school teachers, utility engineers and local leaders to state government, academia and industry.
Located on a peninsula in Boston Harbor, the Town of Hull first developed wind power in the 1820s. Modern wind technology came to Hull in the 1980s, when the school district installed a small-scale wind power project. The Hull Municipal Light Plant supported that effort and subsequently worked with Citizen Advocates for Renewable Energy, to plan a utility-scale project. A 660-kW turbine, Hull Wind 1, was installed on the harbor in 2001. This past spring, the Hull Municipal Light Plant dedicated a second turbine. Hull Wind 2 is a 1.8 MW Vestas V80, installed on a closed landfill. The two wind turbines supply more than 10 percent of the community's energy needs.
Award finalists, which will also be recognized, include American Municipal Power - Ohio, the City of Palo Alto (CA), CPS Energy (San Antonio, TX), and Sacramento Municipal Utility District (CA).
[here in Hull, we're proud of coming in ahead of these other finalists -- notably 'SMUD'. The book entitled "Who Owns the Sun" by John O'Connor and Danny Berman [both originating in eastern Mass., by the way] uses SMUD as their lead example of how a municipal power company can set a high standard in renewables. Their CEO S. David Freeman made the famous remark "I want to put Exxon out of business". He was being interviewed by the Audubon Society.]
June 22, 2006 Congress reaches pact on wind farm
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON -- Congressional leaders reached an agreement on the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm that would give the head of the Coast Guard -- but not the governor of Massachusetts -- the power to order changes to the project or scuttle it entirely if he finds that it would interfere with navigation.
Though the bill would pose another potential obstacle to the Cape Wind Associates project, the agreement is being viewed as a victory for supporters of the wind-energy proposal because it does not award the governor veto power.
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