Delaware is starting formal negotiations for a role in two offshore wind projects US Wind is developing with Maryland.
US Wind is finalizing terms with Delaware on a lease at 3Rs Beach for an underground cable landing to deliver power from wind turbines to the regional electrical grid.
If the project continues as planned, officials say it is likely to be among the first wind projects in operation in the mid-Atlantic.
US Wind will pay Delaware $350,000 per year to lease the landing - with annual increases. And Gov. John Carney’s Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator Greg Patterson says it’s expected to bring more clean renewable energy to Delaware and lower ratepayers’ utility bills.
“Some of the credits that will be generated by the Maryland project will now be transferred to Delaware. We will be able to make those available to Delaware utilities, and so they will now have lower renewable energy credits that they will have to go satisfy from the open market," he says.
Patterson is referring to 150,000 renewable energy credits Delaware will receive each year from the projects, with an estimated lifetime value of $76 million.
“Delaware’s role is now to provide the landing for the cable to come ashore, and as part of that, and as part of the company now being part of our region and wanting to benefit Delawareans that essentially now are neighbors to these turbines, we’re going to get this series of benefits," he adds.
Other advantages include funding funding for dredging projects in Delaware’s coastal areas, clean energy workforce development training at Delaware colleges and schools, an environmental education scholarship fund and a Resiliency Fund for climate change projects at State Parks.
US Wind will now proceed with obtaining the environmental permits needed, including a public comment process, but current plans show the only visible evidence of the underground cable crossing will be a manhole in the parking lot.
You can read more about the MarWin project here and the Momentum Wind project here, as will as the draft Environmental Impact Statement filed with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management here.
