Cape & Islands News

Cape's Cashman to build two more wind farms

UPDATE: When we ran this story on March 3, 2006, we didn't know the location of the proposed wind farms, but now we do.  A story in today's New Bedford Standard-Times reveals, "In a proposal that would dramatically change the appearance of Buzzards Bay, a Boston developer wants to build a $750 million offshore wind farm comprised of 90 to 120 turbines in the ecologically sensitive waterway... The proposed sites are about 3 to 4 miles off the coast of Sconticut Neck in Fairhaven, Barneys Joy in Dartmouth and Naushon Island, one of the Elizabeth Islands. An estimated 30 to 40 turbines would be erected at each of the three sites..." Here is our original story:

Builder to test waters with major offshore plan
Jay Cashman earlier announced his desire to build Cape Wind project

Constructor Jay Cashman (on right) is planning to invest at least $500 million in two wind-powered developments off the Massachusetts coast - the first of what could be a multi-billion dollar wind enterprise for his Quincy firm.

 Jay Cashman, shown on right receiving the Alumni Award for Distinguished Service from the B.U. School of Management last summer, has a long history in New England: his great-grandfather’s firm erected Ptown's Pilgrim Monument

Jay Cashman, wh0 helps build everything from marine facilities to bridges to office towers, said yesterday he’s planning to soon file plans for two 30-turbine offshore wind projects that would generate a combined 200 megawatts of electricity - or enough power for 200,000 homes.

According to the Cashman web site, his construction company is well equipped to handle an innovation like America's first offshore wind farm on Nantucket Sound as well as two more.  Mr. Cashman has homes in Falmouth and Chatham.

At this time he declined to disclose the locations of the two proposed projects, which likely will spark intense controversy among ocean-front property owners.

Cashman, who last September said he planned to get involved in the wind-energy business in a big way including handling the construction of the Cape Wind project, said he hoped to file detailed plans in January. But it took longer than he thought, he said.

Each 30-turbine project will produce about 100 megawatts. But one of the off-shore sites will have enough room for about 60 more turbines to produce another 200 megawatts, doubling the power generation if there’s an expansion, he said.

The initial build-out would cost about $500-$750 million, and any 200-megawatt expansion would cost about the same at today’s rates of roughly $2.5 million for each megawatt.

“I’m not going to take it out of my piggy bank,” joked Cashman, when asked how the project will be funded. Banks and other investors will be brought onboard, he said.

He indicated he’s also looking at land-based wind projects.

Cashman, who helped build a wind turbine at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay shown on right, said more wind power is needed to reduce the country’s reliance on foreign oil and to cut pollutants.

But Cashman warned that the fate of his projects rests with whether a separate wind farm proposal for Nantucket Sound, planned by Cape Wind Associates, is blocked by Congress. If however, his projects are in state rather than federal waters as believed, the regulatory process is vastly different.

Read the rest of this today's Standard-Times story here, and comment below. The first 23 comments were posted after this story first appeared here on March 3, 2006.