Cape Wind Offshore Wind Project
Cape Wind—the wind power project proposed off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts—received federal approval in April 2010, marking the first offshore wind farm to reach that stage. The project will include 130 turbines on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound with a capacity of up to 468 megawatts of clean, renewable energy, producing enough energy on average to meet almost three-quarters of the demand on Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Island. While the Union of Concerned Scientists normally does not weigh in on specific proposals for new renewable energy facilities, we believe that Cape Wind has tremendous precedent-setting potential for the United States.
UCS's position is that wind projects should be allowed to proceed unless rigorous review and study shows significant environmental impacts that cannot be mitigated and that outweigh project benefits. In the case of Cape Wind, the lengthy environmental review of the project strongly suggests that the benefits will significantly outweigh any impacts. We believe that with proper siting, careful design, comprehensive study, monitoring, and mitigation, Cape Wind and other wind projects can and should play a significant role in the Northeast region's electricity system.
Below are links to UCS comments, testimony, and other materials related to the Cape Wind permitting process.
