Decision on Mass. wind farm may ease way for LI project

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday approved the first wind farm in U.S. waters, a project of more than $1 billion off the Massachusetts coast that may ease the way for a wind farm off Long Island, LIPA's chief executive says.

Cape Wind, 130 wind-powered turbines to be placed in the shallow waters of Nantucket Sound, will have to be reconfigured to "reduce the visual impact" from land to go forward, Salazar said in a statement Wednesday. When completed the wind farm may generate enough power for more than 200,000 average homes, the Interior Department said.

The Cape Wind development comes as a Long Island wind power project appears to be advancing. The LIPA board of trustees Thursday is expected to take the next step in the proposed wind-farm project 13 miles off the coast of the Rockaway-Nassau border.

Sources told Newsday that trustees will be asked to approve a memorandum of understanding among project partners - LIPA, ConEd and the New York Power Authority. The agreement will pave the way for technical, economic and feasibility analyses, including purchasing the output by LIPA, the New York Power Authority and Con Ed, sources said.

"Secretary Salazar's decision should create smoother sails for the offshore wind industry and help other wind projects like the one LIPA is exploring with Con Ed and NYPA to move forward," LIPA chief executive Kevin Law said.

In Massachusetts, homeowners whose ocean views would be affected and local environmentalists spent $20 million over nine years to block the project. The wind farm also was opposed by American Indian tribes and Sen. Ted Kennedy, a Democrat who represented Massachusetts in Congress for 46 years until he died in August. The turbines would be visible from the Kennedy family compound in Hyannisport, though Salazar said steps have been taken to improve the view.

"I am convinced there is a path we can take forward that both honors our responsibility to protect the natural and cultural resources of Nantucket Sound, and at the same time meets the need to repower our economy with clean energy produced from wind power," Salazar said at the Massachusetts statehouse in Boston.

Cape Wind still needs approval from the Federal Aviation Administration because the turbines may interfere with tower-to-aircraft transmissions. A legal challenge to the wind farm is pending in the Massachusetts courts, and more lawsuits are likely, said Pat Parenteau, a professor at Vermont Law School who specializes in ocean and coastal resources.

The developer will be required to paint the metal turbines "off-white to reduce contrast with the sea and sky yet remain visible to birds," Salazar said in the statement.

The department is also requiring the developer take extra steps to ensure any archaeological items in the seabed are protected before construction begins, Salazar said. Two Wampanoag Indian tribes say Cape Wind would disturb ancient burial grounds that are underwater.

The Obama administration said the wind farm will create "several hundred" construction jobs and amount to one of the nation's largest single sources for the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions blamed for climate change.

The project will cut carbon-dioxide pollution from traditional coal-fired power plants by 700,000 tons a year, the equivalent of removing 175,000 cars from the road annually, the Interior Department said.

"It's bittersweet from an environmental standpoint," Parenteau said. "On one hand you are talking about a very scenic area rich with wildlife. On the other hand, the wind farm is a clean-energy resource that in one stroke will remove close to 1 million tons of carbon a year from the air."

Cape Wind would generate a maximum of 468 megawatts from turbines spread over 25 square miles of waters about five miles off mainland Cape Cod, in an area known as Horseshoe Shoal. The developer, Cape Wind Associates, said on March 31 it would buy turbines from Siemens of Germany, which pledged to open a U.S. office in Boston.

The project nevertheless faces formidable challenges, including the securing of financing and working out power contracts with the local utility, according to Ethan Zindler, head of North American research for Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

"After nine years, now comes the hard part," said Zindler, who estimates the wind farm's cost may exceed $2 billion, double the estimate cited by the administration.