The Gulf of Maine offshore wind leases are a done deal, but the project isn’t.
We have invested no small amount of effort to protect the Gulf of Maine from dangerous development but the Feds want what the Feds want. They rushed the deal (fearing Trump would nix it) with little regard to the concerns of fisherman, citizens, or environmental concerns to lock it in but is it locked in?
Vineyard Offshore had planned to develop the Vineyard Wind 2 project as part of a coordinated New England solicitation involving Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Massachusetts provisionally awarded 800 MW of the project, contingent on Connecticut purchasing the remaining 400 MW. However, Connecticut opted for solar and electric storage projects instead, citing its renewable energy priorities. This left the Massachusetts portion of Vineyard Wind 2 in limbo.
Massachusetts has struggled with earlier offshore wind commitments as well. Of the 3,200 MW of offshore wind capacity previously secured, 75% was recently eliminated when projects such as Commonwealth Wind and SouthCoast Wind were deemed financially unviable under their original agreements.
Wind is not sustainable or profitable without significant taxpayer support and rate agreements that drive electric prices even higher than they already are in the Northeast. That in turn is politically dangerous, even in blue states like New Jersy which dumped wind projects when the cost made them untenable. Developers with leases then abandoned the projects, unable to recover costs that are ironically much higher because of democrat fiscal policy (inflation). Related: Sununu Bragging Rights: Our Electric Rates Only Went Up 30% While I was Governor)
Vinyeard Wind has also suffered from blade failures that littered beaches and aggravated liberals who would otherwise be supporters. Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard lost seasonal beach access after turbine blade failers left fiberglass, foam, along with the realization that this came with microplatics (with PFAS) and Bisepheol A contamination.
Competing Failure
Connecticut’s energy portfolio choices are not much better. Solar and Lithum storage are both at least if not more environmentally toxic but nothing says virtue signalling proglodyte environmentalism like offshoring the emissions so you can pretend you’re not involved. Greenwashing is the abbreviated phrase and there isplenty of it, both onshore and off and it matters to New Hampshire. These projects put more expensive power into the grid we share. The EV mandates adopted by nearly every New Engaldn state but New Hampshire would push demand through a ratepayer glass ceiling redistributing costs to the pockets and wallets of people who refuse to dance to that devils tune.
It could get ugly, but Kelly Ayotte did say something encouraging in a recent interview. She supports small modular reactors. Nucelar footprints that take up a lot less space but still deliver much needed energy. Se’s also on the record as for wind but doesn’t see the benefit of the proposed Gulf of Maine Development.
Kelly Ayotte, the Republican former U.S. senator and state attorney general, said she is open to wind generally but doesn’t think what’s being proposed in the Gulf of Maine is right for the state.
“Those proposals that are right now being considered don’t make sense to me,” she said.
She has concerns with the cost and said “the return on investment” isn’t there. She also pointed to the concerns of fishermen.
“They make their livelihood, certainly, fishing in that area,” she said. “And they’re very concerned that it’s going to really interrupt the natural habitat of the fish and will interfere with their livelihood, which is certainly important in terms of just even thinking about the tradition and history of fishing on the Seacoast of New Hampshire.”
Wheter that was pre-election rhetoric or genuine concern will play out after she’s sworn in in January. I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt until she proves otherwise, but I do know this. Trump is going to kill all the wind subsidies and without them actual construction will likely get delayed, stalled, or even stopped. Wind can’t survive in the open market and our next president has promised to open that market up.
Good for us, bad for wind.
