For more than five years, renewable power advocates in Massachusetts have been working against considerable local opposition to build offshore wind power in Nantucket Sound.

Delaware's recent move will support the push for wind, said Barbara Hill, executive director of Clean Power Now, an advocacy group in Hyannis, Mass.

"We're not hanging out there on a limb," said Hill. "A Bluewater Wind and a Cape Wind isn't going to solve global warming. But they're going to be major, major first steps in where we move as a nation, creating a new energy paradigm."

In addition to Delaware and Massachusetts, offshore wind projects are being considered in New York, New Jersey, Texas and Rhode Island.

The controversial Massachusetts project, known as Cape Wind, has come a long way in recent months. The administration of new Gov. Deval Patrick got behind the project, providing developers with a favorable environmental impact report in March.

But the project still needs other state, local and federal permits, and faces opposition from landowners who say the proposed turbines would blot scenic views in Nantucket Sound near Cape Cod.

Mark Rogers, director of communications at Cape Wind in Yarmouth, Mass., said of Delaware: "I think it's helpful, because it reinforces and validates the technology itself, and also the interest that policymakers are recognizing: that there's a match between what offshore wind can deliver, and really compelling and urgent public policy priorities like energy independence, taking action on global warming, and local job creation."

Those arguments are what helped carry the day in Dover, where four agency heads on Tuesday ordered Delmarva Power to negotiate with Bluewater Wind for a long-term power purchase agreement. Negotiations are expected to start in the middle of next week.

That came a year after Delmarva Power residential customers saw a 59 percent increase in their monthly bills. The state reacted by seeking homegrown sources of electricity to stabilize the price long-term.

The state agencies chose wind over the early front-runner, a proposed NRG coal gasification plant, which consultants ultimately said would be too expensive and environmentally less appealing.

"First State, first in the water," said Michael Vickerman, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, an environmental advocacy group. "Without a doubt, this is a significant milestone. And I think it communicates to other state officials, chief executives and their agencies that offshore wind can be reviewed and evaluated positively, without hysteria or even controversy. I didn't hear much controversy coming from Delaware."

The state agencies also ordered Delmarva to negotiate with NRG and Conectiv Energy to build a natural gas backup plant, to provide power on peak demand days when the wind turbines may not be moving as much.

Even opponents of wind power say a national audience can take lessons from what happened in Delaware.

The fact that the state wants to build a natural gas backup shows the real cost of building wind power, said Lisa Linowes, executive director of Industrial Wind Action Group in New Hampshire.

"It's like buying a car, and you need to buy a second car on afternoons when it's really hot," Linowes said.

Delaware is embracing wind because "socially, it'll be wonderful," but is "shutting the door on this great coal opportunity," Linowes said.

New Jersey is far ahead of Delaware when it comes to developing most other renewable energies such as solar, so Delaware's decision can only goad the Garden State into action, said Dena Mottola, executive director of Environment New Jersey, an advocacy group.

"It helps us in New Jersey to see another state in our region moving forward, for sure," Mottola said. A task force in New Jersey has recommended building an offshore wind farm, but has not yet recommended a site.

Wind power projects are also in a holding pattern in New York's Long Island Sound.

Rhode Island is just beginning to consider offshore wind, notes Keith Stokes, who is on Gov. Donald L. Carcieri's wind power task force. Carcieri hopes to harness 15 percent of the state's energy supply from wind power.

Actions in other states have an effect to some degree, but Rhode Island is different because so much of its real estate is coastal, Stokes said. People need to weigh in on whether offshore turbines could affect fishing, boating and sunset views, he said.

"We're the Ocean State," said Stokes, who is executive director of the Newport County Chamber of Commerce. "Location is very important for us."

Vickerman, in Wisconsin, said offshore wind need not be limited to East and West Coast states. The Great Lakes states, such as Wisconsin and Ohio, could also benefit, with major cities located on lakeshores.

"You should be proud," Vickerman said. "We're a long ways from having the political will to push for offshore in Wisconsin."
Contact Aaron Nathans at 324-2786 or anathans@delawareonline.com.