NY Seeks Proposals for Offshore Wind Power in the Great Lakes
The New York Power Authority (NYPA) released a request for proposals (RFP) on Tuesday for development of offshore wind power projects in the NY State waters of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The wind project would not only be the first in the Great Lakes, but the first wind development of any kind in a freshwater body in the US.
The Power Authority is soliciting proposals for a utility-scale wind project in the range of 120-500 MW, with a target date of 2015 for commercial operation. Proposals are due June 1, 2010, and the NYPA plans to select a winning project by December 2010.
Under the terms of the RFP, projects must interconnect with new or existing transmission facilities of appropriate regional electric utilities, which are all controlled by the NY Independent System Operator. NYPA will purchase the full output of the project under a long-term Power Purchase Agreement. NYPA has begun commissioning studies for the RFP, including conducting preliminary wind resource, site screening, and environmental studies to investigate potentially feasible locations for project sites as shown in the RFP. See the NYPA press release, the RFP, and the NYPA Web page for the Great Lakes Offshore Wind Project.
In another effort to harness offshore wind resources, the governors of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware announced on November 11 a tri-state partnership for deployment of offshore wind in the Mid-Atlantic coastal region. Virginia Governor Kaine, Delaware Governor Markell, and Maryland Governor Malley signed a MOU creating a formal partnership that will build on the region's offshore wind resources to generate renewable energy while creating a sustainable market that will bring new economic opportunities.
Through the MOU, the Mid-Atlantic states will focus on leveraging resources and pooling information to bring offshore wind to the region. The group will begin by identifying common transmission strategies for offshore wind deployment in the region, discussing ways to encourage sustainable market demand for this renewable resource, and working collaboratively in pursuing federal energy policies that will help to advance offshore wind in the area. See Governor Kaine's press release.
NREL Report Relates State Policies to Renewable Energy Development
DOE's National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) issued a report showing that clean energy development is spreading rapidly throughout the country, often following public policies designed to spur renewable energy growth. According to the report, "State of the States 2009: Renewable Energy Development and the Role of Policy," California led the nation in terms of total non-hydro renewable generation in 2007, while Maine generated the largest percentage of electricity from renewable resources other than hydropower, at 26.1%.
29 states and the District of Columbia have adopted renewable portfolio standards (RPS). All but a dozen states have implemented interconnection policies for connecting renewable energy systems to the grid, while all but eight allow customers to earn credit for power fed back into the grid through net metering.
The NREL report also examined the impact of renewable energy policies using statistical methods. The analysis found that states with net-metering policies in place in 2005 had more generation from non-hydro renewable energy sources in 2007 than states that did not. States that required utilities to tell customers about the energy sources used to produce their electricity and also required utilities to offer "green power", also produced more renewable energy. See the report (PDF 4.2 MB).
