Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Should We Reconsider?

Should we be rethinking wind power in Delaware because of Babcock & Brown’s pending demise? Bridget Shelton of Delmarva Power said on WHYY's Delaware Tonight last night that Babcock & Brown's financial troubles were a "non-issue."
She’s right, at least from Delmarva Power's point of view. The power purchase agreement (PPA) is still in force. As long as Bluewater Wind can build the wind farm, Delmarva Power is obligated to buy electricity from it. If Bluewater can’t find the financing, Delmarva Power and its customers aren’t out a dime.
Charlie Copeland, who was against the Bluewater project before he voted for it, is now against it again. His headline in Resolute Determination sums up his current point of view:

Regional Solution was, is, & will be the only solution for Wind Power
Then why did he vote for the Bluewater agreement back in June? It’s the same deal today as it was when he joined 61 of his colleagues in approving the project.
By the way, WDEL has posted my interview yesterday with Allan Loudell.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

There was a trend, toward the end, of Copeland, Carney's focus on the strengths of a regional approach. Carney met up with O'Malley on the subject.
Delaware needs this wind farm. I never liked the idea of sharing it under a PEPCO umbrella.

Carney (et.al.)'s negotiating for BWW's construction hub gives us another much-needed economic engine.

10:54 AM, February 10, 2009  
Blogger Tom Noyes said...

There is a big difference between what John Carney and Charlie Copeland meant by regional.

Carney and other advocates wanted to approve the Bluewater deal and build on that to bring in customers from outside Delaware and build a local pool of expertise.

Copeland wanted to scrap Bluewater and start over, which would have given away Delaware's first mover advantage.

12:50 PM, February 10, 2009  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am a long-time reader who has never commented, but I just wanted to let you know how grateful I am for your blog. I am a (poor, but happy) full-time Americorps volunteer working in Wilmington. I don't have regular access to the internet, and I don't have a blog. (Hopefully someday!)

There were so many rumors flying around about the wind power deal over the summer. Whenever I would hear some news, my first thought was always, "I'll check it out on TommyWonk before I start celebrating/panicking," - as the case would be. Your last few posts were no exception.

Your wonderfully insightful blogposts never seem to generate the amount of comments they deserve, and I'm definitely sharing the blame on that. I really do need to say: Thank you, thank you, thank you for your tenacity in making sure that your readers/WDEL listeners are well-informed. Thank you, also, for tackling the other issues affecting Delawareans (legislation, unemployment, health care, actions taken by our politicians, etc.)

This comment was long overdue. Please keep up the amazing work, because it is much appreciated.

3:11 PM, February 10, 2009  

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