NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — Cape Wind Associates, LLC now has options to lease port facilities in both New Bedford and Rhode Island to stage the construction of the wind farm the company wants to build in Nantucket Sound.
Which port it will use, or whether it will use both, however, remains an open question and a bone of contention for the project's opponents.
The option
Cape Wind lease option at Quonset Business Park in Rhode Island:
- 11.6 acre and 2.2 acre parcels
- One-year option to lease for $5,000 per acre (not including smaller parcel), or $4,833 per month
- 50 percent of option payments goes to lease payments if Cape Wind exercises its option
- One-year lease with two one-year extensions possible
- $15,000 per acre per year for 11.6-acre inland parcel
- $25,000 per acre per year for 2.2-acre terminal parcel
- $229,000 per year total
"That's still to be determined," Cape Wind Vice President Dennis Duffy said after the Quonset Development Corp. board of directors voted 7-1 Tuesday to approve the lease option with the company for two parcels of land at the 3,207-acre Quonset Business Park in the Ocean State.
The option to lease the 13.8 acres of land will cost Cape Wind $5,000 per acre for a year, or $4,833 a month, according to Steven King, the corporation's managing director.
"They cannot extend the option," he said after the half-hour meeting. "They have 12 months."
Cape Wind could, however, reapproach the board after the option runs out, King said.
If Cape Wind chooses to exercise the option to lease, it would cost the company $229,000 per year in rent for the land, he said. If the company decides to rent the property, half of the option payments will go toward the lease payments, he said.
Cape Wind officials already have signed an option-to-lease for property at the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal, which is currently under construction, but have remained circumspect about which port they will use or whether they will use both.
On Tuesday, New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell said city officials "have been aware for a while that Cape Wind will be exploring an option to lease with Quonset."
"This news comes as no surprise to us," he said. "Until things are finalized in New Bedford, it makes sense for them to take that approach. But we remain confident that Cape Wind is on track to use New Bedford."
New Bedford Wind Energy Center Director Matthew Morrissey echoed the mayor, saying, "Cape Wind has long stated that if the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal is ready, their preference is to use it."
"We fully anticipate that New Bedford will be the principal if not the sole hub of Cape Wind's deployment," he said.
Before the vote, King told his board — which has also entered an option to lease with Deepwater Wind for a separate piece of property — that one port is not large enough to accommodate all of the work. Deepwater Wind has two projects it is planning to build, including a demonstration project off Block Island and a larger 200-turbine project in the ocean southwest of Martha's Vineyard.
Cape Wind already has submitted a $10,000 down payment on the option, King said.
The project is expected to generate 50 to 100 jobs on the site, he said, adding that, while there is no requirement that those jobs be given to Rhode Island residents, he expects local workers would be employed there. He said the expectation is that the lease would run for three years total, including two one-year extensions.
Cape Wind will need to make some improvements to the sites, including leveling the inland location where it would store components prior to them being taken by ship to Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound and adjustments to the sea wall at the terminal site to accommodate heavy loads of components, King said.
The cranes at Quonset, which can lift 150 metric tons, are not large enough to move all the components Cape Wind will use, and the company will have to supply an alternative, King said.
"It's been a tough project, but I'm happy to say that we've obtained all the permits," Duffy told the board.
Cape Wind expects to close on finances for the project by the fall, he said.
"I think there's a lot of work to be done to site the project," King said after the meeting about the potentially competing lease options. "They probably need more than one property."
James Rugh, the only board member present to vote against the lease option with Cape Wind, declined to comment on the reasons for his vote after the meeting, mouthing "no comment" behind the closed window of his car as he drove away.
On Monday, Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound President Audra Parker said that if the company uses Quonset, indications by company officials that they would use New Bedford will be another broken promise that the project will provide local jobs in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center spokesman Matt Kakley wrote in an email that the quasi-public agency, which is building the New Bedford port, has been in discussions with Cape Wind since the start of the terminal project and expects to sign a lease with the wind farm developer in the near future.
Cape Wind is still facing an outstanding appeal of a federal lawsuit filed by the alliance and others as well as continued opposition on several other fronts, including in Congress where House lawmakers last week included a provision in a energy and water bill that would prohibit the Department of Energy from providing a $150 million loan guarantee for the project that was conditionally approved July 1. That bill is not expected to make it past the Senate.
"It's clear from a number of areas that opposition to Cape Wind is increasing largely because of its high cost, its burden to ratepayers and taxpayers, and its shipping jobs overseas," Parker said.
Ariel Wittenberg of The Standard-Times contributed to this report.
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