PUC approves UMaine wind project term sheet
In a 2-1 vote Tuesday, the Maine Public Utilities Commission gave preliminary approval to a term sheet for the Maine Aqua Ventus 1 pilot offshore wind energy project.
The Bangor Daily News reported PUC Chairman Thomas Welch and Commissioner David Littell voted to approve the term sheet, which outlines the conditions under which Maine Aqua Ventus’ pilot project would sell its electricity. Commissioner Mark Vannoy opposed it, expressing concerns about its potential long-term impact on Maine electricity ratepayers.
The term sheet proposed by Maine Aqua Ventus 1, a consortium made up of Emera Maine, Cianbro Cos. and Maine Prime Technologies LLC, a spin-off company representing the University of Maine, is a 20-year contract to sell power generated by two 6-megawatt wind turbines that will be installed in the Gulf of Maine near Monhegan Island. The power purchase agreement would sell up to 43,000 megawatt hours per year of electricity to the grid at a price of 23 cents per kilowatt hour – which is 4 cents per kilowatt hour less than the price approved by the Maine Public Utilities Commission a year ago for the now-scuttled $120 million Hywind Maine pilot project of Norwegian energy company Statoil.
The consortium promises to make at least a $120 million investment in the Aqua Ventus project and have said that could rise to as much as $166 million.
Vannoy told the BDN he did not believe the ratepayer subsidy to Maine Aqua Ventus, which he estimated at between $8 million and $10 million a year, would prove a good investment for Maine ratepayers.
But Jeffrey Thaler, a lawyer representing the university, countered by pointing out the deployment of a commercial-scale wind farm in the Gulf of Maine would give Maine companies a major footing in the emerging international wind energy industry. Earlier, he told Mainebiz the subsidy would cost a Central Maine Power Co. ratepayer about $8.70 per year.
The Aqua Ventus consortium now faces competition against five other offshore wind projects nationwide for three $46 million grants that the U.S. Department of Energy will award this spring. It also must negotiate a long-term contract with Central Maine Power Co. that would be based on the approved term sheet.
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