Offshore Wind Park - O.C. Town Hall Meeting Held Last Night

Last night a town hall meeting was held in Ocean City, Maryland at St. Paul's - by the Sea - Episcopal Church. There were about 100 people in attendance
and the open meeting was sponsored by the following entities; NRG Energy, Bluewater, Maryland Environment, Maryland Energy Administration, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Maryland Sierra Club, Maryland League of Conservative Voters. Most of the sponsoring organizations are conservation groups that appeared to be in support of the concept. I did not notice any State Delegate or Senators at the town hall event. There was one Worcester County Commissioner present - L Busick.

Bottom line - in order for Maryland to be able to close the gap in order to comply with the RPS - standard set by Maryland law for renewable energy generation - it must adapt a plan for significant generation, or, it will have to buy its renewable generation from outside of Maryland - like the mid west.

The wind turbines are being proposed to be built off Maryland's shore. They are to be situated approximately out a distance of 8-15 miles. The territorial water boundary's for Maryland lie within 3 miles of the seashore and anything that extends out past that boundary is under Federal jurisdiction and thus are subject to other Federal compliance guidelines.

Bottom line - NRG energy has now acquired Bluewater - (Delaware's original offshore developer) - and is looking for a Power Purchase Agreement to be entered into with Maryland so as to guarantee a payback for the development of the initial offshore windmill park - estimated to be 1.5 billion dollars. The Power Purchase Agreement will initially be set for 20 - 25 years and will be partially spread out among Maryland's utility rate payers or customers.