Massachusetts windfarm plans could boast energy prices by 17 percent

Just think what good things that people living in Massachusetts could do with an amount of money equal to 17 percent of their energy bills. But the marginal cost is much higher than that 17 percent, indeed, it is three times the cost of fossil fuel. Suppose that you were to have a tax on fossil fuel to internalize any externalities would that tax be less than 200 percent?

Massachusetts electric ratepayers could get jolted by plans to open up huge swaths of federal waters south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket for more offshore wind farms.
About a million National Grid ratepayers are already expected to get hit with a 2 percent hike in their electric bills due to the planned Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound.
But if 3,000 square miles of additional federal waters are fully developed, as envisioned by the U.S. Interior Department and the Patrick administration, then ratepayers could see double-digit rate hikes valued at tens of billions of dollars, business and industry experts warn. . . .
The 130-turbine Cape Wind project, which is expected to cost more than $2 billion to build, will have a maximum power capacity of about 468 megawatts.
Using the Cape Wind rate prices as a model, then full development of the designated area south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket could lead to a 17 percent rate hike for electric ratepayers, according to calculations by the Herald. . . .