Category: Offshore Wind

The monster that hovered over the waterfront for an eternity was brought down Friday to make way for the future wind industry.

Commonwealth Wind parent company Avangrid has said for months that increases in commodity prices, rising interest rates and supply shortages mean that its 1,200 megawatt renewable energy project “cannot be financed and built” under the terms.

“We are going to put our people in these unions. This is a new industry, but we don’t want the same, old problems. The historic discrimination. If we’re at the table, that won’t happen. But right now, we’re not.” — John “Buddy” Andrade, executive director of the Old Bedford Village Development Corp.

“We’re about Massachusetts competing,” the governor said of the state’s approach to offshore wind. “We think this is an area where we can compete hard. And we want to win.”

Letter: “Every East Coast state is now actively competing for investment, and nearly all of their governors have proclaimed that their state will become the industry’s epicenter.” And, other states “have competed more aggressively than Massachusetts.”

Commonwealth Wind had filed a motion to dismiss its power purchase agreements, saying that the largest offshore wind farm in the state’s pipeline “cannot be financed and built” under the terms of those contracts.

The American Clean Power Association, which represents the wind industry and lobbies for it, said a buffer would cause the removal of a “significant number” of turbines from several projects.

Declaring the project “cannot be financed and built” under existing contracts, Commonwealth Wind asked Massachusetts regulators to dismiss the power purchase agreements it reached with utility companies.

“The explosives contractor arrived in the morning but he didn’t bring any dynamite with him. … That’s when he let people know he had a problem with his insurance.” — Andrew Saunders, president of the Foss Marine Terminal.