Cape Wind Power: What’s Cost Got to Do with It?
Nicolas Loris /
After nearly a decade, the Cape Wind offshore project has a lease approval from the Department of Interior, but it is not quite up and running. Once the 130 turbines that stand 440 feet high (taller than the Statue of Liberty) start moving, consumers will pay a hefty premium for the electricity the nation’s first offshore wind farm generates. The Boston Globe reports:
[T]he energy produced will cost up to 50 percent more than energy today from some land-based wind farms and twice as much as some hydroelectric dams. The cost will increase customers’ monthly electric bills about 2 percent, and for many that is too steep in tough economic times.
And let’s not forget that onshore wind is pricier than more conventional, reliable sources of electricity. A new analysis from the Attorney General’s office pegs the cost of the project at $2.5 billion—more than twice the original estimate. Cape Wind stands to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in federal subsidies, and to replace one offshore natural gas platform, we would need 59 Cape Wind projects, which means more than 7,700 turbines covering an area the size of Rhode Island. We would need 24 of these projects to replace one of the 104 nuclear plants we have in the United States.