From the press release:
Among the merger conditions requested by the DOER is a requirement that NSTAR enter into a cost-effective, 15-year contract for new Massachusetts Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) Class I wind energy generation resources equal to 2 percent of NSTAR’s electric load as of December 2010 – or approximately 129 megawatts (MW).
“Class I wind energy generation resources” is bureaucratic language for the Cape Wind project.
What the press release failed to note:
- NSTAR was already exceeding state mandated renewable energy goals through both contract and spot purchases of renewable energy in the free market.
- Energy from Cape Wind will cost significantly more than renewable energy generation already under contract to NSTAR.
- These additional costs will be passed on to NSTAR ratepayers and not the state as a whole.
Why mandate NSTAR ratepayers subsidize an economically unfeasible Cape Wind project? NSTAR ratepayers already pay some the highest electric distribution costs in the nation. Burdening that particular rate base with an effective subsidy to Cape Wind is particularly unjustified given that NSTAR was already exceeding mandated renewable energy goals.
If Cape Wind is so important to the state, why aren’t all state rate payers on the hook for providing cost subsidies to Cape Wind?
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