Wind developer Renewable Energy Systems Americas and Canadian energy company Enbridge celebrated the opening of the $535 million Cedar Point Wind Farm in Colorado.
The 250 MW plant, which will power 80,000 homes, is Enbridge’s first wind investment in the US. Excel Energy is buying the electricity under a long-term contract.
On the other hand, the first offshore wind farm in the Great Lakes has been shelved because of high costs.
The NY State project would have installed 150 wind turbines in Lake Erie, about six miles off the the shore of Buffalo. The ambitious 500 MW project was shelved when the New York Power Authority (NYPA) found it would cost up to $1 billion.
On the same day, NYPA joined with utility Con Edison and Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) to apply for a federal permit to build a large wind farm off the coast of Long Island. It would initially generate up to 350 MW and grow to as much as 700 MW at an estimated cost of $2 billion to $4 billion.
New York City’s high electricity prices and growing energy demand, along with Governor Cuomo’s call to shut down Westchester’s Indian Point nuclear plant, may have led the NYPA to focus on adding to downstate energy production first, Carol Murphy, executive director of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York told the Buffalo News.
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