Government leases sea tract for wind farm

There are several proposed offshore wind power projects for the American East Coast, but the Cape Wind endeavor is the first to lease space from the federal government and appears to be the project furthest along in planning.

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Rodgers explained that the next major hurdle for the project is a meeting in November of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities.

"The Massachusetts DPU will decide whether to approve our long-term purchase agreement with National Grid," Rodgers said. "If the DPU decision is favorable, then the project will move into the construction phase as soon as possible."

Rodgers said construction itself would take about two years.

National Grid, the Massachusetts-based utility, and Cape Wind announced an agreement in May, whereby the utility will buy power from the wind farm for 15 years starting in 2013. The deal came shortly after Salazar announced the federal government's approval of the wind power project.

Under the terms of the contract, National Grid will buy 50 percent of the wind farm's output for 20.7 cents per kilowatt-hour. That price, which assumes existing federal tax incentives, would increase 3.5 percent per year. According to Cape Wind's estimates of output for 2013, the company stands to make about $119 million in its first year of production.

The offshore wind farm will include 130 wind turbines expected to produce an average electric output of 182 megawatts and a maximum output of 468 megawatts.  At average expected production, Cape Wind could produce enough energy to power more than 200,000 homes in Massachusetts, the government said.

The Cape Wind energy project would potentially generate enough power to meet 75 percent of the electricity demand for Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Island combined, Salazar said.

"The site of the project on Horseshoe Shoals lies outside shipping channels, ferry routes and flight paths but is adjacent to power-consuming coastal communities," Salazar said.

According to Interior, the project site is about 5 miles from the mainland shoreline, 13 miles from Nantucket Island, and 9 miles from Martha's Vineyard. One-fifth of the offshore wind energy potential of the East Coast is located off the New England coast, and Nantucket Sound receives strong, steady Atlantic winds year round. The project includes a 66.5-mile buried submarine transmission cable system, an electric service platform and two 115-kilovolt lines connecting to the mainland power grid.