Delmarva Power and state officials have until the end of February to decide who could be a new electric provider in Delaware. Among the choices is offshore wind power, which could be a first for the First State. “We know that the on-shore wind resource is really pretty poor, we know that the offshore wind resource is really much better,” said Phil Cherry, energy program administrator for the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

An Atlantic City-based helicopter plucked two crewmen from the RV Russell W. Peterson at about 9:30 a.m. after they reported the ship was being pushed onto a jetty, taking on water and in danger of sinking. Both men were ferried to Peninsula General Medical Center in Salisbury, Md., according to Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher McLaughlin. Their names and condition were not immediately available. The Peterson, a former Gulf Coast oil industry service boat, was christened March 29 and sent to sea to support Bluewater Wind LLC's efforts to build a 150-turbine offshore wind farm in Atlantic waters east of Delaware.

Although Bluewater Wind has revised its offshore wind farm bid to keep the project alive, its fate is in the hands of four state agencies that will soon decide whether to consider it. ...Delmarva's President Gary Stockbridge said Bluewater is welcome to make a proposal for offering renewable electricity as part of Delmarva's long-term planning process. "That's the only way we can be sure, at this point, whether their offer is what's best for our customers," Stockbridge said.

DOVER -- Environmentalists exchanged high-fives on Tuesday after four Delaware agencies ordered Delmarva Power to negotiate to buy power from a proposed offshore wind farm -- the first in the United States. Negotiations begin Thursday between Delmarva and Bluewater Wind to see if they can strike a long-term agreement to harness the wind over the Atlantic Ocean for Delmarva's standard offer service customers.

Four state agencies are expected to meet in Dover today to begin the final phase of state approvals for an offshore wind farm contract. ...The contract between Bluewater and Delmarva still needs the approval of the Office of Management and Budget, the legislative Controller General, the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and the Public Service Commission.

When Delmarva Power customers saw their bills increase by 59 percent last May, many blamed the increasing cost of natural gas. So state officials went looking for a solution that would protect Delaware residents against volatility in the energy market. The leading plan? Build another natural gas plant. Conectiv’s proposal to build a 180-megawatt natural gas turbine plant at its Hay Road complex beat out plans for an offshore wind farm and a coal gasification plant. A state evaluation of the proposals favored the plan because it offered the best price for consumers in the next 10 years. But a state consultant and a Delmarva consultant concluded that all three proposals would cost ratepayers more than they pay now.

Delaware's two big wind-power initiatives face an uncertain future as millions of dollars in federal subsidies are being held up in Congress. ...In the absence of an extension for the credit, Delmarva would likely have to wait out a delay in construction, or pay more for the power. The Bluewater project's timeline is longer, making it less susceptible to the short-term political stalemate. But the uneven history of the credit underscores a risk to the Bluewater project, observers say. ...Bluewater spokesman Jim Lanard said it was "unimaginable" that Congress would stop funding the tax credit, and that Bluewater was prepared to move forward with the project even if Congress elects to fund the tax credit on a year-by-year basis.

An Australia-based, global energy and investment company has purchased a controlling interest in Bluewater Wind LLC, the company now seeking permission to build 150 wind turbines east of Rehoboth Beach.

That summer in Delaware, Bluewater Wind finalized its contract to build a wind farm of 70, 130-meter-tall turbines 13 miles off the coast of Delaware. After a 59 percent rate hike in state energy prices, state legislators passed House Bill 6. This consumer retail act mandated the creation of a new power plant within the state of Delaware. ...According to the [Bluewater] Web site, "There were no significant negative impacts found on fish, flora and fauna." Delaware Audubon Society Conservation Group is showcased in supporting the project, saying it's safe for birds. ...[Thomas Kunz] says there is evidence suggesting that the offshore wind turbines Bluewater proposed to build would attract bats, causing them to die.

Many residents of this quaint beach town say they are all for green energy, but when Bluewater Wind officials came to town with a concept plan to bring the power cable from their proposed offshore wind farm under their beach, boardwalk and bandstand, they had one really big question: What's in it for the town?

A legislative move to keep Delmarva Power from having its customers foot the bill for the Bluewater wind farm fight fizzled today, at least temporarily. House Concurrent Resolution 50, whose prime sponsor is Rep. John J. Kowalko, D-Newark South, recommends that the Public Service Commission deny any request by Delmarva to pass on the costs to ratepayers. But Kowalko's resolution encountered heavy weather in the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee, whose chairman, Ocean View Republican Rep. Gerald W. Hocker, blasted it as "one of the most anti-business pieces of legislation I have seen."

A day after a consultant's report called for a delay in choosing a new power plant, speculation mounted that the process is on the verge of sputtering out and could wind up back with the General Assembly. "This has gotten off track," said House Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Gerald Hocker, R-Ocean View. "I think it's going to get thrown back in our laps."

Bluewater Wind LLC has nothing to hide - so says a company representative and an energy expert. Thomas P. McGonigle, an attorney representing Bluewater, asked in a letter to Arnetta McRae, the chair of the state's Public Service Commission, that Bluewater not be required to disclose some information to the public regarding a key vendor. The letter stated that Vestas Wind Systems A/S, which would build turbines for Bluewater, had some concerns about company information being publicly disclosed. "Vestas has strong objections to the release of certain aspects of this information and has now invoked its Non-Disclosure Agreement with Bluewater," McGonigle said in the letter.

Bluewater Wind issued a blistering rebuttal to a draft Senate report that calls its offshore wind power contract too expensive and the fruits of a flawed process. Bluewater's rebuttal calls the Senate report an "advocacy piece" that should not receive the deference a "neutral party reporting fairly on the evidence would be afforded." It's time for the government to give Bluewater an answer, the rebuttal says. ...The report, which is advisory and does not require a full Senate vote, says the Public Service Commission and other state agencies did not properly carry out legislative instructions to look for new, in-state sources of generation.

Bluewater Wind says it has been given the green light to put up a testing station off the Rehoboth Beach coast, which would be the first physical manifestation of its planned offshore wind farm. Bluewater President Peter Mandelstam said Wednesday the Department of the Interior and the state of Delaware have told Bluewater it has met the requirements to construct a meteorological tower.

An offshore wind farm developer said today it would not raise the price of its power if the prices of steel and other commodities go up. In making the concession, Bluewater Wind hoped to win over state regulators who have said the company's offer to sign a long-term power purchase agreement with Delmarva Power would be too expensive.

Delaware's major renewable energy project -- the Bluewater Wind offshore wind farm -- is still a go, even as credit markets tighten company officials say. That's true even given significant debt problems faced by Bluewater's Australian parent company, Babcock and Brown.

In hopes of keeping a proposed offshore wind farm alive, Bluewater Wind submitted plans on Tuesday to rein in costs, but claims Delmarva Power unfairly drove up the price of wind power in negotiations. On Tuesday, Bluewater dropped plans to raise the price of its power as the price of steel and other commodities increases. In making the concession, Bluewater hoped to win over state regulators who have said the company's proposed power purchase agreement with Delmarva would be too risky and expensive. ...Delmarva spokesman Bill Yingling said Delmarva maintains the wind farm is a "bad deal" for its customers. Buying out-of-state renewable resources and credits would be significantly less expensive, he said. Yingling said Delmarva officials were disappointed Bluewater didn't decrease its proposed base price of wind power.

In new federal permitting rules published last month, the U.S. Department of the Interior said offshore wind farm operators will need to pay 2 percent of revenues as a royalty to the federal government. That 2 percent is calculated using a formula that relies largely on the wholesale price of electricity.

Continued debt problems have dragged down the stock value of Bluewater Wind's Australian parent company to around one Australian dollar a share, far from its $31.08 a share value a year ago. But leaders of Babcock & Brown said Wednesday the firm's debt issues, and the current freeze-up of global credit markets, will not derail Bluewater's plan to build a wind farm off Rehoboth Beach.