Falmouth Onshore Wind Cables 4 Years Enough Is Enough

In October 2019, the wind company associated with Falmouth was selected by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts electric distribution companies to provide 804 MW of offshore wind energy. The company proposed wind energy at a more competitive price with greater economic development opportunities for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Cape Cod, and the South Coast than any other bidder.

It was announced in a local Cape Cod newspaper on March 14, 2020, that underground cables that will be part of a developing offshore wind farm could touch base somewhere in Falmouth.

After years of meetings with town officials, the Falmouth Select Board on June 8th, 2022 hosted the first public forum on the onshore wind proposal at the Lawrence School Auditorium. The Falmouth Select Board sought public input on a proposal submitted by the wind company to bring underground electric transmission cables from offshore wind turbines to a multiple-acre substation in Falmouth.

Residents voiced overwhelming opposition to plans to run onshore electric cables from its offshore wind farm through Falmouth and an electric substation the size of the Falmouth Mall.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities and Attorney General approved the offshore wind contracts. Now in the last minutes, the Falmouth wind company asked for a five-day delay from MassDPU because another wind company associated with Osterville directly and materially impacts their project.

If the Mass DPU allows changes to the original RFP, and request for proposals it's possible other offshore wind developers might sue if the state allowed wind companies to renegotiate a contract it had won during a competitive bidding process.

You can’t reopen a contract under one set of rules without cries of foul.

Finally, according to recent MassDPU documents, the wind company remains actively engaged with the Town of Falmouth, despite some challenges to moving forward.

The Falmouth Select Board voted 4-1 on December 19, 2022, to deny the wind company access to town property to study landfall sites for electric cables connecting its proposed offshore wind farm to the electrical grid.

The total output of the Pilgrim Nuclear Plant was 680 megawatts. The buried offshore industrial wind cables to be run through Falmouth a residential vacation destination are rated at 400 megawatts and 800 megawatts.

In any case, another year of onshore cable meetings with a high probability of legal action as the wind company wants to bypass Falmouth wind turbine laws 240-166 approved by the Town Meeting and the Massachusetts Attorney General.