Offshore wind farms approved in Maryland would be nation's second and third largest

Deepwater Wind's block island wind farm
(HANDOUT photo)

The Maryland Public Service Commission on Thursday approved ratepayer subsidies to support a pair of wind power projects off the coast of Ocean City, Scott Dance reports for The Baltimore Sun. The commission said "the two projects—together expected to cost more than $2 billion—would position Maryland as a national leader in offshore wind energy." If built, they would be the nation's second and third largest offshore wind farms, behind one approved earlier this year between Long Island and Martha’s Vineyard.

"U.S. Wind, a subsidiary of Italian energy and construction company Toto Holdings SpA, plans to build 62 turbines at least 14 miles off the coast of Ocean City, a $1.4 billion project expected to start operating in 2020," Dance writes. "Skipjack Offshore Wind LLC, a subsidiary of Rhode Island-based Deepwater Wind Holdings LLC, plans a $720 million project including 15 turbines at least 20 miles off the coast, to launch in 2022." Deepwater, the company behind the only completed offshore wind farm, in Rhode Island, is developing the largest wind farm proposed earlier this year.

The Maryland wind farms "are expected to prevent emissions of hundreds of thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide and create some 5,000 jobs and $74 million in state tax revenue," Dance writes. "The two companies have until May 25 to accept a set of conditions requiring certain levels of job creation and investment the commission laid out in its decision.