Delaware inks deal with US Wind for $128M in benefits and lease payments

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Delaware signed an agreement this week with the offshore wind energy company US Wind worth about $128 million, which includes lease payments, community benefits, upgrades to the state’s grid and renewable energy credits. The deal is in exchange for infrastructure needed to transport the energy onshore through Delaware waters and state park land.

The company plans two projects off the Delmarva Peninsula that will provide Maryland ratepayers with renewable energy. The first of which, dubbed MarWin, would construct 21 turbines to generate 300 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 92,000 homes. The second, Momentum Wind, would include an additional 55 turbines churning out 800 megawatts of power, enough to light up 250,000 homes.

The company has leased about 80,000 acres in federal waters off Ocean City, Maryland. If fully developed, it says the site could generate close to two gigawatts of wind energy, or enough to power 600,000 to 700,000 homes. The deal with Delaware comes after the final permits from the Department of Interior were granted to the projects in December and a year after the state began negotiating with the company. 

“With the recent federal and state project approvals, we are ready to reap the environmental, health, workforce, energy cost and community benefits from this needed transition to renewable energy,” said then-Gov. John Carney in a statement on Monday, his last day in office. “Delawareans will benefit in numerous ways from this important agreement.”

While the contract for the offshore wind energy is with the state of Maryland, the project plans to plug into the grid at the Indian River Power plant, a former coal burning station, in Dagsboro, Sussex County, Delaware. Underground cables would connect the turbines beneath Delaware state waters and wetlands, including Indian River Bay and 3R’s Beach at Delaware Seashore State Park.