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Report: US Wind offered Md. town free electricity to appease project concerns

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Report: US Wind offered Md. town free electricity to appease project concerns

US Wind offered to provide free electricity to Ocean City, Md., in an attempt to appease concerns that its Ocean City Offshore Wind Project will hurt the resort town's tourism industry, The Baltimore Sun newspaper reported.

The project developer told town officials that in addition to free electricity, the company would make "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in community investments each year and offered to alter its plan to put offshore wind turbines 17 nautical miles off the coast of Maryland if Ocean City agreed to cover the costs for US Wind to redo the paperwork, according to the newspaper's June 11 report. Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan said the town turned down the offers, claiming that having turbines visible from the shore will cause tourists to spend time and money at other beaches.

"We're going to continue to proceed with any avenue we have to address our concerns," Meehan said, according to the newspaper.

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While other East Coast states that have prominent beach tourism industries such as Massachusetts and Rhode Island have welcomed offshore wind, Maryland has had mixed feelings toward the renewable energy source. State legislators earlier this year considered increasing Maryland's renewable portfolio standard from 25% by 2020 to 50% by 2030 before dropping the proposal altogether. They also dropped a bill that would have required offshore wind turbines to be at least 26 nautical miles away from the shore.

Meehan has said that he and Ocean City support renewable energy, including offshore wind, but he is concerned on how turbine visibility will disrupt the ocean views and deter tourists from visiting the beaches.

"With the construction of 139 windmills off Ocean City's coast, each structure more than twice the height of the tallest building in Ocean City and blades the length of a football field, there is no questions they will be visible from our shoreline especially when they are lit up at night," Meehan said in a Feb. 6 statement. "It is a threat to our environment, our property values, our economy and the future of Ocean City. It is simply irresponsible."

US Wind General Counsel Salvo Vitale told The Baltimore Sun that the response from Ocean City officials has frustrated the company. However, US Wind is not concerned that the town's opposition will kill the project, since it is located in federal waters.

US Wind won the lease area for its Ocean City project in 2014. On March 22, the developer had the project's site assessment plan approved by federal regulators. According to S&P Global Market Intelligence data, the first 250-MW phase of the project is schedule to be completed in early 2020. The second phase, the remaining 500 MW of the project, is expected to be operational by 2022.