Cape Wind Sets Power Agreement with National Grid, Gets FAA Approval
Cape Wind Associates, LLC reached an agreement to sell half the power produced by its proposed offshore wind farm to National Grid, a utility serving customers in Massachusetts and three other states.
On May 10, National Grid filed with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities for approval of its 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Cape Wind Associates. National Grid will buy about 3.5% of its electricity supply for Massachusetts from the Cape Wind project, fulfilling the state's requirement that all investor-owned utilities buy at least 3% of their electricity supply from renewable generators.
National Grid also filed a second agreement to buy the balance of the power produced by the Cape Wind project, with the intent of assigning that wind power to other buyers. The PPAs are a key step in the development of the Cape Wind project, a 468 MW wind facility in Nantucket Sound off the Massachusetts coast. The project won approval from the U.S. Department of Interior on April 28, putting it in position to become the first U.S. offshore wind project. See the article on the Interior Department approval from the May 5 edition of the EERE Network News.
Under the proposed PPA, the utility will initially pay 20.7 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for the wind power in 2013, with the price increasing 3.5% each year. Based on current forecasts, the utility projects the wind power purchase will add $1.59 to the average bill of a residential customer who uses 500 kWh per month. However, if a price is placed on carbon emissions in the future, National Grid expects the Cape Wind project to have a significant price advantage over conventional power sources.
The PPA hinges on several milestones for the Cape Wind project, requiring the company to have all permits, property and site control rights, and financing in place by the end of 2013, and for construction to be underway by then, with commercial operation achieved by the end of 2015. However, the PPA allows the project to be developed in up to 17 phases, each consisting of at least 28 MW. See the National Grid press release, the filing with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (PDF 868 KB), and the Cape Wind fact sheet on the PPA (PDF 391 KB).
Cape Wind Associates received approval for the project from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on May 17. An FAA study concluded the project will not have substantial adverse effects on the surrounding airspace or on the operation of air navigation facilities. See the FAA "Determination of No Hazard" and supporting documentation on the FAA Obstruction Evaluation/Airport Airspace Analysis Web site, as well as the related statement from Cape Wind Associates.
Scientists Find Photosynthesis Depends on Quantum Entanglement
Researchers at DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) have discovered that photosynthesis depends on a relatively obscure physical phenomenon called quantum entanglement.
Photosynthesis is the highly efficient process plants use to convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into sugars and other chemicals - scientists hope to one day mimic this process to produce fuels and chemicals directly from sunlight. The new LBNL research sheds light on the process, but also reveals new unexpected levels of complexity.
