Company Pitching Offshore Windmills 'Starts' Project To Qualify For Tax Credit
By David Madden
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (CBS) -- Groundbreaking ceremonies were held today in Atlantic City for a $200-million project to build five electricity-generating windmills some three miles off the South Jersey coast and an onshore plant to distribute the energy created.
The project has yet to get the green light from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU), but Fishermen's Energy, the company behind the project, is going ahead anyway. Chief operating officer Paul Gallagher explains why:
"Last week Congress authorized an extension of the Investment Tax Credit. But to qualify, you have to commence construction by December 31st of this year," Gallagher said.
The issue now before the BPU deals with the potential consumer cost of the generated power. That federal grant, which could provide up to $50 million for the project, may go a long way to bringing the cost down.
Gallagher says their latest rejection from the state, the third since the idea was first proposed, is now in the hands of an appellate court, where a hearing is set for March.