N.B. terminal not seen dependent on Cape Wind

READY FOR BUSINESS? Owners of the New Bedford marine terminal are seeking a port operator, who will help market the facility. / COURTESY APEX COS.
READY FOR BUSINESS? Owners of the New Bedford marine terminal are seeking a port operator, who will help market the facility. / COURTESY APEX COS.

Developers of the newly constructed, $113 million New Bedford marine terminal are optimistic about the future of wind energy and the facility itself, despite seeing Cape Wind – expected to be their first and largest tenant – recently lose two major electricity contracts.
The 28-acre z on New Bedford’s harbor was specifically designed and built to support heavy loads, including those associated with staging of offshore wind projects. In September, Cape Wind secured a two-year $4.5 million lease with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, a quasi-governmental organization that owns the terminal. Cape Wind is supposed to use the facility for staging and assembly of its 130-turbine wind project slated for Nantucket Sound.
But on Dec. 31, the future of Cape Wind’s offshore wind project became unclear when utility giants National Grid PLC and Northeast Utilities – parent company of Nstar – terminated their electricity contracts with the wind company. The companies say Cape Wind failed to meet a contractual deadline to obtain financing, start construction, or put up some sort of collateral to extend the terms.
The contract terminations come as a heavy blow to Cape Wind, as the two companies together had contractually agreed to buy more than 75 percent of Cape Wind’s future energy production. Former Mass. Gov. Deval L. Patrick, a longtime champion of Cape Wind’s project, expressed doubts in recent weeks about whether Cape Wind would ever produce energy.
For the New Bedford marine terminal, however, efforts to finish up and start operations will continue, according to MassCEC spokeswoman Catherine Williams. MassCEC is looking for a port-operator group, which will be tasked with running the day-to-day operations, including lining up business for the terminal. The terminal, work on which began last April, is being built for maritime purposes other than offshore energy tenants, Williams added.
“Conceived as a multipurpose operation, the terminal is ready to handle the needs of both marine cargo and offshore wind tenants. It has never been only about Cape Wind,” Williams said in a statement.
MassCEC has funded the South Coast infrastructure project using both taxpayers’ and ratepayers’ money. The latter comes from funds pooled by a renewable energy charge that is collected through Massachusetts electricity bills.
The group is currently looking for a qualified operator to be “responsible for all aspects of terminal management, operations, security, maintenance, marketing and business development,” according to a request for proposal listed on the organization’s website. The bidding process will close on Feb. 23.
Cape Wind’s lease agreement will remain intact, Williams confirmed.
Cape Wind also had a separate lease option with Quonset Business Park in North Kingstown, but Stephen J. King, the Quonset park’s managing director, confirmed Jan. 16 that Cape Wind has ended payments on that option.
Williams added that the New Bedford terminal operator will have to accommodate the offshore tenant, “when it is ready to deploy.” The Massachusetts wind industry, Williams added, is much larger than just Cape Wind.
“We’ve always known that a new offshore wind industry would face an uncertain timeline, so we’ve always planned it as a multiuse operation,” Williams said in a statement. “The offshore wind industry is coming to the United States and will add to the booming Massachusetts global clean energy economy.”
In December, the U.S. Interior Department announced its plan to auction 742,000 acres off the Massachusetts coast with the goal to generate up to 5 gigawatts of electricity. The area is slated to be divided into four zones, and 12 companies – including Providence-based Deepwater Wind LLC – are qualified to bid. The areas sit about 14 miles off the coast and the auction is scheduled for Jan. 29. Jeffrey Stieb, New Bedford port director, says the city’s new terminal is about 99 percent complete and has the capacity to serve current and future offshore wind tenants. The Cape Wind “delay,” as he put it, has given the terminal project a little more breathing room, which is now slated for completion in March.
Stieb, who represents the city’s interests, echoed Williams’ sentiment, saying that the terminal will be ready to receive cargo of any kind. The main terminal site has the ability to sustain loads of about 4,100 pounds per square foot and concentrated loads of up to 20,485 pounds per square foot, according to MassCEC.
“It’s by far the best cargo terminal in the region and there really isn’t anything that it can’t handle,” Stieb said. “We’re ready to make Cape Wind a success when their project kicks off.”
A Cape Wind representative did not immediately respond to requests for comment about either the New Bedford terminal or the Quonset lease option, but it’s not the first time the company has hit a roadblock. The offshore project was initially proposed more than a decade ago and has been the subject of seemingly endless political and permitting fights, not to mention being named in several lawsuits.
“The project has gone through a lot, and they’ve been able to overcome a lot through history,” said Roy Nascimento, outgoing president and CEO of the Greater New Bedford Chamber of Commerce. “We shall see if this is the end of the project, or just another stumbling block that they’ll overcome.” •

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2 COMMENTS

  1. The Massachusetts News Media has lost all credibility reporting on commercial wind turbine projects
    http://patch.com/massachusetts/falmouth/news-media-credibility-gone-over-commercial-wind-turbines-0