The Committee of 100 | FYI Archives

Peter Mandelstam, President of Bluewater Wind, met with The Committee of 100 Environment Committee on April 3rd. Gary Stockbridge, President of Delmarva Power, will meet with the Environment Committee on May 1st. Information from Bluewater Wind’s presentation is presented in this FYI; information from Delmarva Power’s presentation will be presented in the May FYI.

Bluewater Wind is an offshore wind park developer with offices in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. Bluewater is supported by Babcock & Brown, the 4th largest wind energy developer in the world and 3rd largest in the U.S., which recently purchased a controlling interest in the company. Babcock & Brown currently operates 20 onshore wind parks across 9 states totaling over 1,500 MW.

Since 1991, 28 offshore wind parks have begun operating in 10 countries worldwide with a currently-installed capacity of 1,204 MW. Offshore has been selected because offshore provides higher winds that are more stable than onshore wind. In Europe, Denmark has led the way, with Great Britain poised to pass Denmark. In addition to Great Britain’s existing offshore wind parks, 341 turbines have recently been approved in London and 140 turbines in Greater Gabbard.

The Delaware Bluewater Wind project proposes 150 3-MW Vestas turbines located more than 11.5 land miles east of Rehoboth Beach in two Wind Park Arrays. Each rectangular Array, with the wind turbines a half-mile apart, includes a Transformer Platform, from which submarine cables run to the shore, where they connect with the existing grid at a substation. The 450 MW production from the 150 turbines is enough energy to serve 120,000 homes, or 29% of the energy consumed by Delmarva Power’s SOS (Standard Offer Service) customers. In 2014, Delaware is expected to need 3,793,000 MWh, net of Demand Side Management (DSM), such as smart metering. Bluewater Wind’s Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) would provide 1,357,402 MWh maximum each year. If the General Assembly does not stop the project, its anticipated completion date is the end of 2013 or 2014.

Bluewater Wind states that offshore wind provides a stable price; avoids unknown future compliance costs associated with CO2 limits, Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), and pollution regulations; increases fuel diversity; and reduces environmental impacts, helping to meet Delaware’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (by 2020 Delaware Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania will require 20 million MWhs of renewable energy, equivalent to 6,630 MW of wind).

Bluewater Wind notes that an offshore wind park off its coastline will enable Delaware to become a national leader in the campaign against global warming. Offshore wind energy can reduce the need for electricity from polluting sources. Based upon data from Dhanju, Whitaker, Burton, Tolman, and Jarvis in Assessment of Delaware Offshore Wind Power

(University of Delaware, September 2005), pollution avoided per year from a 450 MW offshore wind park is 1.35 billion pounds of CO2, 14.4 million pounds of SOx, and 5.17 million pounds of NOx. A 6-year study completed on Wind Farms in European waters shows minimal impacts on wildlife.

Bluewater Wind has launched The Russell Peterson, a ship which is beginning a 2-year study of the area proposed for the Delaware Offshore Wind Park.

The National Renewable Energy Labs reports that, “according to the chief operating officer of the PJM Regional Transmission Organization, wind energy displaced coal-fired generation about 70% of the time in this power market in 2006.”

Bluewater Wind’s $1.6 billion investment would produce 400-500 local union jobs during construction, with $90 million in direct wages, and 80-100 union operations and maintenance (O&M) jobs for the life of the 25 year contract, with $126-152 million in direct wages. Bluewater points out that the Delmarva proposal to purchase power outside Delaware will not generate jobs for Delaware. In addition, Bluewater Wind will establish Delaware as the economic hub to support the construction of offshore wind parks in the region, if Delaware becomes the first state to approve an offshore wind park. This economic hub will position Delaware as a national leader in the new clean energy economy attracting other “green collar” jobs, whereas purchasing wind energy from out-of-state will not. The Port of Wilmington would have a $7.2 million direct economic impact from this clean, high-tech industry. Bluewater Wind has provided a $150,000 grant to Delaware Technical and Community College (DelTech) to create a Wind Tech Training Program, making Delaware the training center for workers learning how to build, operate, and maintain wind parks.

In contrast to an out-of-state land-based wind park, Bluewater Wind’s Offshore Wind Park would reduce air pollution in Delaware, create enhanced fishing in artificial reefs, provide new tourism opportunities from boat trips to the Windpark, provide direct investment in Delaware, offer 25-year price stability, avoid transmission upgrade costs paid by ratepayers, offer enhanced grid stability and reliability, and assure that Delaware will receive wind energy. In addition, a Delaware Offshore Wind Park could help to offset the $100 million yearly impact penalty Delawareans are now paying because the State is not producing sufficient energy in-state.

Finally, in contrast to yearly bids for power held hostage to the vagaries of price fluctuations, the Bluewater Wind Offshore Wind Farm provides a 25-year price guarantee, because the cost is all capital. The fuel–wind–is free. And clean.

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON OFFSHORE WIND

After passing the law that set the offshore wind park in motion, the General Assembly may be set to scuttle it. The Bluewater Wind contract was a result of the General Assembly’s mandate that Delaware seek new, in-state sources of electricity to help stabilize electricity prices. The plan was tabled in December after the legislature’s Controller General Russell T. Larson balked. Then Senator Harris McDowell surprised his colleagues by holding hearings on the plan for the Senate Energy and Transit Committee. While the House approved a resolution on April 10th demanding approval of the offshore wind park, Harris McDowell’s unpublished “report” was leaked the same day, appearing to conclude that the Bluewater plan is “not a cost-effective solution.” The controversy has raised questions about McDowell’s Sustainable Energy Utility, the conservation and renewable energy program he sponsored. It has also stalled efforts by the Minner Administration to win approval for a new surcharge on carbon dioxide emissions from large state power plants.