USA: Fishermen’s Atlantic City Wind Farm Poses Technical Risks, Report Says

A report made by Boston Pacific Company Inc. and Outsmart BV for the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, has found that Fishermen’s Atlantic City Wind Farm project’s benefits “are not enough to offset the Project’s costs”, after the consultancy companies reviewed the application.

“In summary, we remain concerned with the significant level of subsidy that would be paid by ratepayers for a project that poses significant technical risk,” the report says.

It explains: “The overarching concern is that ratepayers will be paying a high subsidy for a project with significant technical risks; that is – a 25-MW project that uses a turbine with no commercial operating history and employs a technology that has not been used for this particular class of turbine. It is not clear to us why ratepayers would be asked to subsidize a Project with significant technical risks when there are commercially proven wind turbines readily available in the market that could lower the Project’s risks. Doing so would only make sense if the Act intended to subsidize demonstration projects whose purpose was to advance new technologies; however we find no language in the Act stating a purpose to support the demonstration of new technologies.”

The report was published on December 12, the same day that Department of Energy announced seven offshore wind awards for engineering, design, and deployment projects that will support innovative offshore installations in state and federal waters for commercial operation by 2017.

Fishermen’s Atlantic City Wind Farm is one of these projects, which will receive up to USD 4 million in funding from the Department of Energy.

[mappress]

Offshore WIND Staff, December 18, 2012; Image: Fishermen’s Energy