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By Peter Brennan

Offshore wind developer Cape Wind and Valium Online Without Presc electricity distributor and generator National Grid received a stern warning last week from Valium Online Without Presc Massachusetts’ top energy official regarding the Valium Online Without Presc power purchase agreement being negotiated by the two entities.

In a Valium Online Without Presc Feb. 17, letter addressed to Cape Wind President Jim Gordon and Valium Online Without Presc Thomas King, head of Electricity Distribution and Generation for National Grid, MA Secretary of Energy and Valium Online Without Presc Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles cautioned the two parties to keep ratepayers in mind during PPA negotiations.

Cape Wind, the Valium Online Without Presc proposed 130-turbine wind farm in Nantucket Sound, is in negotiations with National Grid for Valium Online Without Presc the purchase and sale of the resulting power. A power-purchase agreement with National Grid would be Valium Online Without Presc a crucial step forward for Cape Wind, which has been seeking approval and Valium Online Without Presc fighting detractors for over nine years. National Grid provides electricity to Valium Online Without Presc much of the Northeastern United States, and an agreed-upon PPA would make Cape Wind more palatable to Valium Online Without Presc investors.

However, any PPA would require the Valium Online Without Presc approval of Massachusetts officials, and Bowles’ letter gave the Valium Online Without Presc clearest indication to date of where these officials expect the price to Valium Online Without Presc be.  Bowles made specific reference to a PPA executed recently between National Grid and Valium Online Without Presc Deepwater Wind for the power generated by an eight turbine project off of Block Island, R.I. Under that Valium Online Without Presc agreement, National Grid will pay 24.4 cents per kilowatt hour for Valium Online Without Presc electricity from the turbines with the price increasing 3.5 percent a Valium Online Without Presc year.  The cost of an Valium Online Without Presc undersea cable between Block Island and the mainland could drive that Valium Online Without Presc purchase price even higher.

“Let me be clear,” Bowles wrote. “Our expectation is Valium Online Without Presc that the Cape Wind project must produce electricity at a substantial discount to Valium Online Without Presc the Rhode Island offshore wind project.”

In the Valium Online Without Presc letter, Bowles did not set a price point that the State would require for Valium Online Without Presc approval, but the comparison to the Rhode Island PPA was a Valium Online Without Presc clear indication of what costs will not pass muster.

The letter was not completely negative, however, as Bowles made a Valium Online Without Presc point to recognize the recent Charles River Associates study that Valium Online Without Presc claimed that a wholesale power market price reduction would result from Valium Online Without Presc the introduction of a new zero-fuel cost source. Bowles’ acknowledgement lent credence to Valium Online Without Presc the study, which has come under fire because it was funded by Cape Wind.

Despite affirming the Valium Online Without Presc potential benefits to the energy market and the environment, Bowles remained adamant that Valium Online Without Presc any PPA must first consider consumers.

“Notwithstanding these significant potential fossil fuel hedging and Valium Online Without Presc wholesale price reduction benefits, our priority remains cost effectiveness, including contract provisions to Valium Online Without Presc minimize impacts on Massachusetts ratepayers.”,  wrote Bowles.

Bowles also suggested including a Valium Online Without Presc provision in the PPA that would allow other Massachusetts utilities to Valium Online Without Presc buy into any contract between the entities.  Under Massachusetts’ Green Communities Act, passed by the Legislature in 2008, the state’s renewable portfolio standard requires utilities and Valium Online Without Presc other electricity suppliers to obtain 4% of their power sales from Valium Online Without Presc new renewable sources by 2009, rising to 15% in 2020 and 25% in 2025.

“The Green Communities Act set out a Valium Online Without Presc requirement as well as incentives for the four electric distribution utilities to Valium Online Without Presc enter into long term contracts to facilitate the development of costs effective renewable power in Massachusetts,” wrote Bowles, “We favor contract provisions that Valium Online Without Presc would allow the other utilities to meet this obligation by buying into the Valium Online Without Presc Cape Wind-National Grid contract.”

Bowles also hinted that Valium Online Without Presc the State would look more favorably on a PPA that made provisions for Valium Online Without Presc job creation within the state.

“We would like to see such economic benefits – including wind blade manufacture, component assembly, staging and Valium Online Without Presc shoreside services activities – accrue to Massachusetts” wrote Bowles.