Cape Wind changes direction

If the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm is ever built, the turbines will have a German accent.

Siemens Energy Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Siemens AG, a global leader in industrial, health care and energy products, will supply 130 of its 3.6-megawatt offshore turbines to Cape Wind Associates LLC, officials with both companies said yesterday.

"This agreement between Cape Wind and Siemens represents a major step forward to jump starting the American offshore wind industry and increasing energy independence, creating a healthier environment while producing hundreds of green energy jobs," Cape Wind president Jim Gordon said in a prepared statement.

It could be a busy month for Cape Wind. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has said he will decide whether to approve the project in the upcoming weeks, even as Cape Wind and National Grid are four months into negotiations over the sale of power from the turbines.

In addition to the turbine deal, Siemens announced that it will open its first U.S. office in Boston dedicated to offshore wind power, a move the company says is directly connected to the Cape Wind deal.

"It's going to start out small for now," Siemens spokeswoman Monika Wood said of the Bay State office. The company already has 3,000 employees in the state working in other industries and 64,000 employees in the U.S., she said.

A market leader in offshore wind turbines, Siemens has 150 of the 3.6 megawatt variety installed in waters around the world, she said.

Neither Wood nor Cape Wind spokesman Mark Rodgers would say how much the turbine deal was worth.

"There is a signed agreement," Rodgers said, adding that Cape Wind has been discussing a possible deal with Siemens and Vestas for years.

GE vs. Siemens turbines

Originally, Cape Wind had indicated it would use 3.6 megawatt turbines manufactured by General Electric but GE has not manufactured that type of turbine commercially in recent years. In an environmental report issued last year on Cape Wind by the U.S. Minerals Management Service, the manufacturer of the turbines was no longer specified.

Although GE officials have said that they would not rule out building the turbines in the future, opponents of Cape Wind have jumped on the change as reason to suspect whether the project's review is valid.

The Siemens turbines' blades would reach 440 feet into the air at their highest point, the same as in the original proposal, Rodgers said.

The only difference would be the distance of the turbine blades to the water's surface at their lowest point, which will increase from 75 feet to 88 feet, he said.

Siemens had the advantage of being the world's largest supplier of the size turbines Cape Wind required and has the most experience in building them, Rodgers said.

"That's what the project specs have been based on all of this time," he said.

Although Siemens does not manufacture the offshore turbines in the U.S. that could soon change, Rodgers said.

"Once a market really gets going for the U.S. — one and eventually several projects — that's what will cause manufacturers to locate factories here," he said.

Foes question cost

In the meantime, opponents argue, federal money to subsidize the project will be shipped overseas.

"Cape Wind has been targeting $500 million of stimulus money," said Audra Parker, president and CEO of the anti-Cape Wind group, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound. "Is that going to go to the German economy?"

Lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, have recently asked President Barack Obama to suspend stimulus money going to foreign manufacturers for clean energy projects.

"It's a huge sum of money that's coming out of taxpayer's wallets and from ratepayers for a project that clearly doesn't belong in Nantucket Sound," Parker said.

Parker also questioned how Salazar could make a decision on the project before an agreement is reached on the cost of power from the turbines.

"Is Secretary Salazar going to make a decision before we're even aware of the high cost of Cape Wind?" she said, adding that the Federal Aviation Administration is also continuing to review the project.

In Rhode Island a deal between National Grid and Deepwater Wind to sell power from a demonstration wind project off Block Island for twice the cost of electricity from traditional sources was nixed this week by the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission.

Massachusetts officials, however, were more focused on what the Siemens deal could mean for Bay State.

"I think the significance of it for the commonwealth is the decision for (Siemens) to locate their U.S. offshore wind office out of Massachusetts," state Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles said.

When coupled with the ongoing construction of a wind blade testing center in Charlestown and the passage of the Green Communities Act in 2008, the announcement is more proof that the state is a leader in the renewable energy sector, Bowles said.

Bowles' boss agreed.

"Siemens' decision to base their American offshore wind operations in Massachusetts is another significant step forward for the clean energy industry we have growing in Massachusetts," Gov. Deval Patrick said in a prepared statement. "We are glad to have Siemens opening up shop here in Boston."

Bowles, who earlier this month warned Cape Wind and National Grid to keep the cost of any agreement as low as possible, said he has been updated on the negotiations and believed the companies were close to a deal.