Would Cape Wind contribute to state and regional renewable energy requirements?
All six New England states have adopted renewable portfolio standard (RPS) requirements directing that specific fractions of their electricity must come from renewable sources by designated dates. According to ISO New England, RPS requirements will represent 6.5 percent of the region’s energy in 2015, which is equivalent to 3,750 MW of wind or 1,600 MW of biomass. Proposed renewable projects in New England as of June 2007 totaled 1,900 MW, not all of which qualified to meet various state RPS standards. Click here3 for a June 2007 presentation by ISO New England president and CEO Gordon van Welie on the region’s future electricity outlook. The Massachusetts RPS requirement starts at 1.0 percent in 2003 and rises 0.5 percent annually through 2009, then by 1.0 percent annually at the discretion of the Massachusetts Division of Energy Resources (DOER) from 2010 through 2014, reaching 9.0 percent in 2014. If insufficient renewable electricity is available to meet the requirement, power supp
