Del. regulators OK Delmarva Power wind contracts

The Public Service Commission on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve proposed agreements with AES Corp. of Virginia and Synergics Wind Energy of Annapolis, Md.

Plans call for Delmarva, a subsidiary of Pepco Holdings Inc., to purchase power from two Synergics wind farms in Garrett County in western Maryland. Synergics would supply up to 100 megawatts of wind energy and renewable energy credits under two 20-year contracts.

AES would supply power to Delmarva under a 15-year contract from a wind farm in northern Pennsylvania. A group of regional electrical cooperatives also is slated to buy wind power from the Pennsylvania site.

"We intend to start construction at the end of this month and have already invested millions of dollars on this particular project," said Charles Falter, an AES managing director who oversees wind power projects in eastern North America.

The Pennsylvania wind farm and one of the two Maryland sites are scheduled to be up and running by the end of next year, with the third project coming online in 2010.

The three wind farms are expected to provide wind power at below-market cost during the contract periods and could generate at least 170 megawatts of wind energy and renewable energy credits. Delmarva Power officials said the land-based wind farms, coupled with an earlier 25-year power purchase agreement with developers of a wind farm off the Delaware coast, will allow the company to meet its renewable energy goals for several years.

"It's a good day," Delmarva President Gary Stockbridge said.

While the land-based wind farms received overwhelming support, University of Delaware professor Jeremy Firestone said he was not convinced that Delmarva Power adequately considered the alternative of purchasing more energy from Bluewater Wind LLC's planned offshore wind farm.

"The question is, 'Can we do better?'" said Firestone, a professor of marine policy at UD.

Firestone also questioned whether the possible impact from the Maryland project on an endangered bat species and other environmental issues were properly addressed.

But Synergics president Wayne Rogers noted that the odds a bat would be near the wind farm are infinitesimal because they forage in areas near waterways, not on mountain tops. He also said they tend to fly about 30 feet off the ground, while the bottom of a rotor blade on one of the turbines would be about 120 feet above the ground.

After a lengthy PSC hearing, Firestone recommended approving the two sites scheduled to come online next year. But he said the commission should wait to take final action on the second Maryland site until the possibility of buying more offshore wind power was carefully evaluated.

"Time is not of the essence on that contract," he said. "I think we should take more time and evaluate what's really in the best interest of Delawareans."