Gov.Martin O'Malley appeared before a House committee today to push his bill to spur offshore wind development, while an aide outlined tweaks to the measure to win over manufacturers and other businesses concerned about how much it would increase their electricity bills.
Speaking to members of the House Economic Matters Committee, the governor stressed that building 50 to 100 massive wind turbines off Ocean City would generate jobs while also helping to ease the state's reliance on power from climate-altering coal-burning power plants.
Administration officials project that a 310-megawatt offshore wind project could support 1,300 manufacturing and construction jobs to build it and 250 permanent jobs maintaining and running the turbines afteward. O'Malley noted that the state imports nearly 40 percent of the electricity its residents and businesses use, while paying millions in extra charges because of bottlenecks in the regional power transmission network.
Addressing the unease lawmakers have had since last year about subsidizing a project that could cost $1 billion or more, O'Malley pointed out that under his bill, HB441, residents would pay no more than $2 a month extra, on average, and that ratepayers wouldn't be charged anything until the project is actually built.
Abigail Hopper, the governor's energy aide, said the administration would propose a few changes to ease industrial and commercial electricity users that their contributions to the offshore wind project would be limited as well. One amendment would clarify that businesses would pay the same electricity rate as residential customers; the measure already proposes to cap any increases in a business' power expenses at 2.5 percent of its annual outlay. Another tweak would ease business obligations to help subsidize other renewable energy projects.
Malcolm Woolf, head of the Maryland Energy Administration, sought to further ease lawmakers' minds about the potential cost to householders, saying the extra charge that would be tacked on for offshore turbines could easily be offset by replacing three incandescent lightbulbs with energy-saving fluorescent ones, or by slightly lowering the water heater setting.
"This is a big undertaking, but it's not one beyond our grasp," O'Malley told committee members.