Image: An offshore wind farm situated in the Baltic Sea near Samsø, Denmark.

The utility, National Grid, has offered to start negotiations in order to formulate a deal to purchase power from Cape Wind. At issue, is the cost of energy from the offshore wind project. If the deal is successful, it will help Cape Wind obtain funding.

If Cape Wind achieves final review, it has the possibility to become the United States’ first offshore wind farm. However, the project has been plagued with NIMBYism, politics, and most recently “the Wampanoag tribes of Mashpee and Aquinnah [claim] that Nantucket Sound should be included on the National Register of Historic places as a traditional cultural property.” More from the Boston Globe:

Yesterday, Governor Deval Patrick’s administration said the yet-to-be-built offshore wind farm has secured a long-term customer for its electricity: National Grid. It’s the kind of deal opponents had doubted the project could get.

“For Cape Wind, this is a tremendous step forward . . . [to say] yes, we can sell the power,’’ said Laurie Jodziewicz, manager of siting policy at the American Wind Energy Association, which today is wrapping up a two-day workshop in Boston on offshore wind power.

The agreement is one of several recent developments that could advance the project.

Key Massachusetts officials, including Democratic US Representative Edward J. Markey, have urged President Obama to push for federal approval of Cape Wind before next week’s United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen. World leaders could hammer out a blueprint for lowering greenhouse gas emissions and using more renewable power, such as energy from the 130 turbines Cape Wind wants to erect in Nantucket Sound.

Video via NECN

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