Cape Wind, the wind farm proposed for a 24-square-mile tract of Nantucket Sound off Cape Cod, Mass., got its final government permit on Friday, 10 years after work on the project began, the sponsors announced. They hope to begin construction this year, although they have not yet lined up a market for all of the electricity. . . .
The next hurdle appears to be selling the power. Last May, Cape Wind announced it had a deal to sell half the electricity to National Grid for a price beginning at 20.7 cents per kilowatt-hour, approaching double the national average retail rate. Massachusetts state regulators turned that down, but in November the state accepted a contract with National Grid at a price beginning at 18.7 cents a kilowatt-hour.
While the price is still high above average, there is some hope that Cape Wind would deliver electricity during peak demand periods, when all prices are high. In fact, by dumping more energy into the market during peak periods, it could drive down the prices established in New England’s daily power auctions.
Here is a diagram of the turbine array for the Cape Wind project from the Associated Press:
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