Posted on 03/31/2012 7:57:05 AM PDT by Fractal Trader
Boston utility NStar has agreed to pay a starting price for power from the Cape Wind project that is substantially above the cost of conventional energy and will slightly increase the average customer’s monthly bill beginning the first year the offshore wind farm generates electricity, according to a 15-year contract filed with state regulators Friday.
The price, 18.7 cents per kilowatt hour, is the same as what National Grid agreed to pay when it signed a contract in 2010 to purchase half the power generated by Cape Wind. NStar’s deal is to purchase 27.5 percent of the wind farm’s total output. Since the Cape Wind power represents only about 2 percent of the energy distributed by NStar, it is expected to have a moderate impact on the average customer’s bill, $1.08 a month. Customers in the Boston area pay about $86 a month.
Cape Wind executives and advocates believe the project will, in the long run, help moderate regional energy costs.
The $1.6 billion contract still needs the approval of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities. NStar, with 1.1 million electric customers, has asked for a decision by the end of the year.
The utilities currently pay about 8 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity, and NStar originally balked at becoming a Cape Wind customer, arguing the wind farm’s cost was too high. That position changed last month, when, after nearly a year of negotiations, state energy officials agreed to endorse a proposed merger between NStar and Connecticut-based Northeast Utilities if NStar made several concessions, including buying power from Cape Wind.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Wind power represents only about 2 percent of the energy distributed by NStar, it is expected to have a moderate impact on the average customer’s bill, $1.08 a month
vs.
The price, 18.7 cents per kilowatt hour...The utilities currently pay about 8 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity
An energy plan Obama can be proud of!
but no radioactive waste or air pollution externalities
Paying more will lower the cost?
Isn't it amazing what they get away with? I mean, you just have to shake your head in wonder. Maybe what they mean is, since the wind stops blowing a lot of times, there won't be any electricity and we'll all cut our usage as a result.
“Cape Wind executives and advocates”
Who are they?? Does anyone have a list of executives, investors and advocates.
Another example of government knowing better than the individual.
If it hasn’t been created by the market place it isn’t going to work. It never has.
I would be willing to bet that it takes more energy to build and maintain a windmill than it will ever produce in its usable lifetime. They kill birds and they break in storms. Coal plants last 50-100 years with scheduled maintenance and if you believe all that carbon=global warming crap, then if you build enough coal plants it will stave off the coming ice age.
Also, don’t forget that you still have to have the conventional generating capacity for when the wind turbines, for whatever reason, high wind or no wind, don’t work.
The numbers simply don’t add up.
“Boston utility NStar has agreed to pay a starting price for power from the Cape Wind project that is substantially above the cost of conventional energy...18.7 cents per kilowatt hour...”
I’ll guess the sales from the Solar Energy providers to the utility are similar.
18.7 cents kWh is for the Energy Charge alone and does not factor in transportation and distribution costs.
I am served by National Grid in the Albany Area of NY and my Energy Supply Charge is 4.21 cents/kWh for the month ended 3/1/2012. My total electric cost PER kWh which includes compensation to the utility for delivery charges was 7.769 cents per kWh.
THAT GIANT SUCKING SOUND YOU HEAR IS THE “ALTERNATE ENERGY” LOBBYIST TAKING YOUR MONEY AND GIVING IT TO aO-BAMA.
Incidentally a person spending $21 thousand on solar panels on his roof in my area gets $16 thousand in local, state and Federal subsidies for the installation. And the utiltiy is forced to take any power that the individual doesn’t need.
No, its a demonstration project.
Texas is closing in their offshore wind demonstration project so it is not clear who will be first into the water, Texas or Mass.
Check out the distorted logic (price suppression) that they use to get to their rosy numbers...:^)
ping
I do remember that then-Presidential candidate JF'n Kerry (who had a yacht called "Scaramouche" at the time) was against the Cape Wind endeavor until he was for it.
And then, that only happened when the CEO of Cape Wind made a donation to the campaign, iirc.
FWIW, his new boat is the "Isabel", "based" out of RI to avoid MA taxes...
Full Disclosure: There's a possibility that the taxes may have been paid out of his second wife's deceased first husband's trust fund.
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