Federal report cites need for energy from proposed wind farm

YARMOUTH, Mass. - - A proposed offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound could provide needed electricity in New England and help diversify energy supplies to guard against rising natural gas prices, a federal study found.

The U.S. Energy Department's report was prepared to examine regional energy needs as part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' ongoing review of the hotly contested Cape Wind project's environmental impacts.

"New England's energy outlook could benefit significantly by utilizing our ocean resources in combination with current renewable energy technologies to address our growing energy needs," the DOE's report says. "This in turn will help to combat global warming, pollution emissions and environmental degradation, energy price volatility and fuel supply constraints."

The report is to be included with the draft environmental impact statement the corps will write on the proposal, corps spokesman Tim Dugan told the Cape Cod Times.

The project's developer, Cape Wind Associates, is seeking a permit to construct a wind farm with 130 power-generating wind turbines erected in federal waters in Nantucket Sound, off Cape Cod.

The Energy Department's analysis, conducted by Albert Benson of the agency's Boston regional office, examined the region's dependence on natural gas based on an expectation of dwindling supplies and a shortage of pipeline capacity to meet increased demand.

Based on wind velocities measured at a test tower in the sound, the wind farm could have produced electricity for heat and hot water for 105,000 homes from April 2003 to March 2004, the report found.

The report concluded that as natural gas supplies decline, "the use of renewable energy to generate electricity can play a significant role in offsetting price volatility in electric generation by providing a natural hedge against fuel supply restraint and natural gas cost volatility."

Other agencies will also contribute to the energy needs assessment that will be part of the corps' permitting process, including the state's Energy Facilities Siting Board. The board's staff recently issued a tentative decision approving a proposed landfall site for an underwater cable that would conduct electricity from the wind farm to an NStar substation in Barnstable.

Critics say the project would harm the beauty and environment of Nantucket Sound and contend regulations aren't in place to govern such offshore projects.

Supporters say the wind farm would supply nearly three-quarters of the electricity used on the Cape and islands, without producing greenhouse gases.