The U.S. Department of the Interior yesterday auctioned off two parcels of ocean where a wind farm is planned off Martha's Vineyard and Rhode Island for $3.8 million in the first-ever competitive lease sale for renewable energy in federal waters.
Deepwater Wind beat out US Wind Inc. and Sea Breeze Energy for the 25-year lease of two parcels totaling nearly 165,000 acres where it plans to build up to 200 turbines that will be able to supply enough electricity to power up to 400,000 households via a regional transmission system linking Long Island, N.Y., to southeastern New England.
"In our estimation, this is the best offshore wind site in the United States," Deepwater Wind CEO Jeff Grybowski told the Herald last night.
"It has the strongest wind on the East Coast except for Maine, and it's very close to large populations, as well."
From the seabed, where they will be attached to foundations, to the tip of the uppermost blade, the turbines will measure 550 feet tall yet will be "very difficult" to see because they will be no closer than 16 miles from shore, Grybowski said.
In Massachusetts, the proximity of Cape Wind's planned turbines to shore has been a major source of contention.
"The bidding process (yesterday) shows clearly that there are better, alternative sites for industrial-scale wind energy development than Nantucket Sound," said Audra Parker, president of the Alliance to Save Nantucket Sound. "And these areas are the result of a public ocean zoning process, rather than a developer taking the best site for his own profit."
Cape Wind did not return an email seeking comment.
Currently, Massachusetts has 103 megawatts of wind energy installed — all on land and a far cry from the 2,000 megawatts Gov. Deval Patrick has made his goal by 2020.
"Today is a great day for Massachusetts and the emerging U.S. offshore wind industry," Bill White, director of offshore wind at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, said in a statement.
"... Two more offshore wind leases will create the opportunity for two more customers for the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal, the nation's first facility built for the construction, assembly and deployment of offshore wind projects."
The Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is expected to announce additional auctions for Wind Energy Areas off Massachusetts, Maryland and New Jersey later this year and in 2014.
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