The state could have been the first on the east coast to sign up for offshore wind energy but backed off in 2018 due to its costs
By Jon Hurdle, Delaware Public Media
More than a decade after Delaware first considered buying some of its electricity from future wind farms off the coast, it finally has a bill that would set it on a path to do so.
The Delaware Energy Solutions Act of 2024 was introduced in the General Assembly on April 18, and supporters say they’re cautiously optimistic that lawmakers will pass the measure in the approximately 10 weeks that remain in the current legislative session.
The bill would instruct the state, on its own or with other states, to seek bids from offshore wind developers to supply power to Delaware; draw power from a project generating 800-1,200 megawatts – enough to power at least a third of Delaware’s electricity needs; pay no more than 110 percent of the average electricity price that consumers have been paying for electricity over the last three years, and invite bidders to include the benefits of their project for climate, the economy and public health.
The plan would also allow a developer to raise its costs by 2 percent a year to allow for inflation, a provision designed to avoid the disruption and even cancellation of some offshore wind projects in other states over the past year. Denmark’s Orsted, a leading wind developer, cancelled two planned wind farms off New Jersey last year, saying that inflation and supply-chain problems meant the projects were no longer economic at the price negotiated with the state.
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