Now that Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners has signed a deal to develop Vineyard Wind’s proposed 800 megawatt offshore wind farm, Mayor Tom Rose wonders why that couldn’t have been here in Western Newfoundland.
The development is located 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, U.S.
Vineyard Wind is jointly owned, 50 per cent each, by funds managed by the Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid/Iberdrola.
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The two are seeking to build the first large-scale offshore wind farm in the United States, starting operations by late 2021.
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners is the same company that has partnered with Beothuk Energy to develop, own, and operate a 180-megawatt offshore St. George’s Bay wind farm to supply power to Atlantic Canada.
However, that plan hasn’t received approval yet in this province.
Mayor Tom Rose said such a project could have a major impact on the port in Stephenville and for all of Western Newfoundland, employing hundreds of workers.
He said this would be clean energy that would be generated right in this area and green energy is now trending around the world.
Rose said Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners is investing all over the globe and if they can get a project on the go in the U.S. and maybe New Brunswick, which looks to be getting close, then why not here in Western Newfoundland?
He said this wind energy development being proposed is a $1.2 million project.
“I wish the announcement for a go-ahead could have been made in this province, rather than in Massachusetts,” he said.
Deputy Mayor Susan Fowlow said the province is doing these creative so-called green projects, such as Muskrat Falls and waste management but it’s like the people of the province are being penalized for them.
“We know the cost of waste management is taking a big hike and this week we have word from Nalcor Energy CEO Stan Marshall confirming electricity rates will double,” she said.
Fowlow said she’s thinking she won’t be retiring here in the province on a fixed income.
“I think as a province we’ll have the greatest number of millionaires as that’s the only ones that will be able to afford to live here,” she said.
Coun. Mark Felix said the irony of it is that Muskrat Falls is coming on stream when already two major consumers of electricity – the pulp and paper mills in Stephenville and Grand Falls-Windsor – have been shut down.
“It would take a lot of bungalows to make up for a paper mill,” he said.