Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Court upholds Cape Wind, National Grid deal

By George Donnelly, Boston Business Journal

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld a power purchase agreement between Cape Wind and National Grid (NYSE: NGG) in a decision released Wednesday, siding with the state Department of Public Utilities.

National Grid struck a deal to buy 50 percent of Cape Wind’s power capacity in May 2010, and the agreement was approved by the DPU in November 2010. The deal has been criticized as too expensive — adding an estimated $1.50 per month in electricity costs for the average residential customer.

Opponents of the Cape Wind plan to build 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound, most notably the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, said the DPU approval of the power deal failed to weigh the benefit of cheaper sources of alternative energy.

But the court wrote: “…Our review of the record indicates that there was clearly sufficient evidence on which the department could base its conclusion that the special benefits of [the power agreement] exceeded those of other renewable energy resources, and we uphold the department’s conclusion that approval of the contract was in the public interest.”