Proponents of Wind Farm Trim Proposal for Horseshoe Shoal

By MANDY LOCKE

Cape Wind Associates erased 40 turbines from its wind farm site
plans this week - freeing four square miles of Horseshoe Shoals
previously staked by the private energy developer.

The announcement came Tuesday as Cape Wind officials sealed a deal
with GE Wind Energy to manufacture the 130 turbines the developer now
hopes to erect on 24 square miles of shallow water in Nantucket Sound.

"To be able to work with GE Wind Energy is very exciting. Cape
Wind had the chance to buy American," said Mark Rodgers,
communications director for Cape Wind.

A subsidiary of General Electric, GE Wind Energy will set up camp in
Massachusetts if Cape Wind's offshore wind farm is granted permits
by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. General Electric purchased
turbine technology from energy giant Enron in 2002 - six months
after the Texas-based company collapsed amid financial scandal.

Now based in California, GE Wind Energy is considering Quincy as a
likely deep-water port to host the turbine manufacturer if plans
proceed, Mr. Rodgers said. The new partners brag that a move to the Bay
State would mean hundreds of jobs for state residents.

"Heretofore, large manufacturers of [wind turbines] are in
Europe. Most people assumed we'd be buying European. The fact that
there's an opportunity to buy American and employ regionally is
quite exciting," Mr. Rodgers said.

But the announcement of relocating to a port town south of Boston
brought murmurs of dissatisfaction from Cape and Island wind farm
opponents - who question job opportunities for the residents they
say will be most directly impacted by the wind farm.

"It doesn't strike me as very local. Cape and Island
residents are still wondering what they will get. The project will
dominate 24 square miles of the Sound and provide energy that will
inevitably cost us more," said Isaac Rosen, executive director of
the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, a grassroots opposition group
pushing for federal siting standards for private wind projects in public
waters.

"It takes a lot of nerve for them to think we will accept
this," he added.

Quincy, Mr. Rodgers explained, is equipped to host large barges,
vessels that Cape harbors could not easily handle.

"Cape Cod is not set up for large manufacturers like
this," Mr. Rodgers said, noting that the 50 employees who would be
hired to run the proposed wind farm will be locally based.

The reduction in the number of turbines, Cape Wind explained, comes
with knowing exactly what type of technology the company will use.

"For us, the magic number has been 420 megawatts," Mr.
Rodgers said, referring to the wind farm's projected energy output
- levels they say will supply three-fourths of the Cape and
Island's electric needs.

"If we built more turbines, it would be a waste. Transmission
cables would only be able to transport 420 megawatts," he said,
referring to two underground cables expected to run from the wind farm
to the New England power grid by way of Yarmouth.

The reduction in the number of turbines and usage of Horseshoe Shoal
did little to temper opposition to the wind farm proposal.

"We still have problems with wildlife and navigation. We still
have a problem that every place along the shore is up for grabs by
private developers," said Mr. Rosen.

"Maybe in the very near future, we'll have federal
siting standards. They'll be able to put [wind farms] so far out
that the sea turtles won't mind, birds won't mind and no one
will see it," he added.

In other wind energy developments, New York-based Winergy LLC filed
an application with the Army Corps to erect a 167-foot data tower in
shallow waters seven miles southeast of Nantucket.

Winergy - a major player in the offshore wind farm scene
- had offered only a glimpse of their proposed plans for any of
the 22 sites they've informally staked along the East Coast. An
application filed with the Army Corps in August was incomplete.

Winergy's potential site on Nantucket Shoal is known for
unpredictable weather and water conditions.

The Army Corps' first look at the Nantucket Shoal wind farm
proposal last August involved a proposal for 231 turbines, though
project principals this week suggested the final plan may be much
smaller than originally proposed.

Winergy also announced plans in recent months to construct wind
farms in three other sites off the coast of Massachusetts - off
Provincetown, off Falmouth in Buzzard's Bay and in Essex Bay off
Cape Anne.