Deepwater rebuts critic, says wind farm rate of return reasonable
Deepwater Wind says that the criticisms of its deal to sell wind power from its proposed Block Island wind farm to the mainland National Grid, which are found in testimony filed with the Public Utilities Commission, are way off base.
Richard S. Hahn of La Capra Associates in Boston, working for the state Division of Public Utilities and Carriers, had testified that the negotiated price is at the “high end” of comparable projects, the rate of return to the project’s developers is almost 100 percent, and Deepwater’s estimate of operation and maintenance costs is “very high.”
Deepwater turned to its chief executive officer, William M. Moore, and its consultant, David P. Nickerson of the Mystic River Energy Group, for rebuttal. To the non-expert, the exchange has a “he said-she said” quality; more facts may emerge in a fuller context during the PUC hearing scheduled for next week, March 9-12. Read more…
PF Online 3-6 Block Island Times.pdf [254.54KB]
