Wind Power Market Coming to Life in New England and Texas
Government streamlining of leases for Rhode Island and Massachusetts and changing market conditions in Texas are breathing new life into offshore wind projects in those states.
On Aug. 18, Winchester, Mass.-based Neptune Wind announced it plans to develop, construct and operate a 500-MW wind farm about 20 nautical miles south of the Massachusetts-Rhode Island border. The announcement came a day after U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Michael R. Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE), began the offshore leasing process for a 286-sq-mile sector off the Rhode Island and Massachusetts coasts. The process is part of the federal government's plan to fast-track offshore wind development in several coastal states.