Even though the Cape Wind project, the first proposed offshore wind farm in the U.S., is fully permitted and nearing completion of the project financing phase, its opponents are putting their last efforts into preventing the installation of wind turbines off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Opponents of the Cape Wind project have filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals, arguing the U.S. District Court’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit by the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the Town of Barnstable and a group of local businesses and residents, in which the parties claimed that Cape Wind’s contract with NSTAR was overpriced.
“In this particular appeal, project opponents are making the same failed arguments they made last time, which the judge concluded were ‘misleading and ultimately untrue’. Similarly, project opponents made the same arguments on the 11th Amendment in their reply brief and in oral arguments during the last case and were completely unsuccessful,” Mark Rodgers, Cape Wind’s Communications Director told Offshore WIND today.
Mr Rodgers said that the project’s schedule cannot be impacted by actions such as this one, as strong decisions have been made in favor of Cape Wind, which had already won all the significant legal disputes. “We are moving forward full steam ahead,” he stressed.
Full steam ahead it is
When asked about the project’s current status, Mr Rodgers said:
“Cape Wind is fully permitted, the U.S. Department of Interior has given Cape Wind the nation’s first commercial offshore wind lease and has approved our Construction and Operations plan.
“Cape Wind has completed all of the site geotechnical and geophysical surveys, and the project is fully designed.
“We are currently in our financing phase, we have previously announced commitments of $1.45 billion. We will complete project financing by the end of this year.”
The offshore wind farm will comprise 130 Siemens 3.6-megawatt offshore wind turbines with an overall capacity of 468 megawatts. The project will be located on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound, off the coast of Cape Cod.