Senator Fazio Urges Change of Course in Light of Cancelled Wind Contracts

Sen. Ryan Fazio (R-Greenwich), Ranking Member of the state’s Energy & Technology Committee, expressed his desire for a change of course in the state’s energy policy in light of Avangrid’s cancellation of its Park City Wind Contract. The cancellation of the multi-billion contract for a $16 million fee in hopes of fetching much higher rates is a negative, but also unsurprising, development. It also raises major questions about the future of the offshore wind industry in the northeast and the state’s energy policy.

Senator Fazio said, “By executing a contract with such a low cancelation fee, our state government transferred enormous amounts of risk from the corporation we contracted with to our own residents. It was a heads Avangrid wins, tails Connecticut loses contract. Other projects that have been canceled in the region have had more than double or triple the cancelation fee that Avangrid had for Park City Wind. Any future contracts of similar variety that our state signs must appropriately price risk and optionality.”

“Additionally, with the going rate for offshore wind skyrocketing to more than triple the cost of electricity generation that we buy in the wholesale market, we need to reevaluate our current policies. First, we cannot commit to buying billions of dollars’ worth of new offshore wind power at more than double or triple the market rate,” Senator Fazio added. “Second, with so much new power generation at risk, DEEP must cancel its proposed new regulation to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars which could add much more demand to the grid than Park City Wind ever could generate. There is a better way forward for energy policy.”

Last session, working in a bipartisan manner, the General Assembly passed legislation in the form of Senate Bill 7 that increased the types of hydropower eligible and added new nuclear power as class 1 renewable energy. This was an enormous positive step to the state meeting clean energy goals, lowering the cost of electricity, and increasing reliability.

“Let’s build on the bipartisan success of last session and commit to an ‘all-of-the-above’ clean energy strategy that treats all forms of clean energy, including hydropower, nuclear, solar, wind, and others, similarly, rather than picking winners and losers as a state government. We also must encourage the private development of additional natural gas pipeline capacity to reduce the need for higher-emissions oil, while also reducing costs to our electricity consumers. There is a better way forward to making Connecticut affordable and I look forward to working with anyone to accomplish it,” Senator Fazio concluded.