August 24, 2011

NSTAR buys more wind power


BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts regulators have approved deals by the state's second-largest utility to buy power from three land wind farms scattered around New England, the firm announced Friday.
NStar said the Department of Public Utilities approved contracts between the utility and Hoosac Wind in Massachusetts, Groton Wind in New Hampshire and Blue Sky East in Maine.

The NStar deals represent about 1.6 percent of its demand. NSTAR is required to provide 6% of its power from renewable energy sources by the end of this year. 
NStar has kept pricing on the three deals confidential, but analysts have estimated the power costs at about 9.4 cents per kilowatt hour. The three deals are fixed price contracts, meaning the price per kilowatt hour doesn't increase over time. NStar selected its contracts after a competitive bidding process that emphasized lowest price and drew about 74 qualified bids.
The Hoosac project in Monroe, Mass., and Florida, Mass., is roughly 29 megawatts and is set to be running by July 2012. The 32-megawatt Blue Sky East wind farm in Eastbrook, Maine, is scheduled to be operating by May 2012. The 48-megawatt Groton project in Groton, N.H., is scheduled to be operating by December 2012.
The Blue Sky deal is for 15 years, while the other two are for 10.
The Hoosac and Groton projects are owned by the Spanish power utility Iberdrola SA. Blue Sky is owned by Boston-based First Wind.

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