Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Galloo Island Wind Farm searches for power purchaser

Galloo Island Wind Farm is shopping its electricity around to state and private buyers to keep the possibility of an underwater transmission line alive.

A representative of developer Upstate NY Power Corp. told parties on a conference call held by the Public Service Commission on Thursday morning that the developer isn’t giving up after the New York Power Authority scrapped its Great Lakes Offshore Wind project in September. The project, which requested proposals from developers for wind power projects in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, would give the developers purchase power agreements, providing a steady stream of income even as the electricity market ebbs and flows.

“It would have been the cleanest method for a PPA,” said Robert W. Burgdorf, attorney with Nixon Peabody, Rochester, and developer representative. “The company is frankly frustrated; it has incurred significant delay. The company believed it was the lowest bidder by far and it believed it had reason to be optimistic as recently as two months ago.”

The developer had told the parties in previous calls that it needed a PPA to make the project viable. But Mr. Burgdorf appeared to leave open the option to construct the 246-megawatt project without a PPA as long as an overland transmission route was pursued. He did not respond to a request for clarification Thursday.

Read the entire article

No comments: