Port of Wilmington denied wind staging grant

UNITED STATES: The Port of Wilmington, Delaware has failed in its bid for $22 million in federal aid to make accommodations for a wind power project, a local paper has reported.

by Tamar Wilner 26 October 2010

The port and developer NRG Bluewater Wind sought the cash from the Department of Transportation, the (Wilmington) News-Journal said.

But the department announced last week that the project was not among those chosen to receive stimulus funding.

NRG Bluewater is the developer of a 300MW-to-450MW project off the Delaware coast and one of only three offshore projects in the US to have a power purchase agreement.

The wind farm has a 25-year contract for the first 200MW with utility Delmarva Power.

The $66 million port project would create an assembly area for wind equipment and a causeway to a shipping berth on the Delaware River.

The state's economic development director, Alan Levin, said of the funding decision: "It just means we've got to go look at other sources, other ways to make this happen."

The grant program, called Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER), previously awarded $14 million to the Maine ports of Searsport, Eastport and Portland.

It also granted $22.3 million to the Quonset Development Corporation in Rhode Island, for pier, rail and road improvements at the port and nearby business park.