Interior Secretary, Cape Wind, sign lease

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the developers of a planned wind farm off the Cape Cod coast have signed a 28-year lease.

The lease signed Wednesday will cost Cape Wind Associates LLC $88,278 in annual rent prior to production, and a 2 to 7 percent operating fee during production. The fee is based on revenues from selling the offshore wind energy in regional markets.

When completed, the wind farm with 130 turbines over 25 square miles on Nantucket Shoals, is expected to generate a maximum electric output of 468 megawatts with an average anticipated output of 182 megawatts, enough power to meet 75 percent of the energy needs for Cape Cod and the Islands.

The lease was signed at a meeting of the American Wind Energy Association in Atlantic City, N.J.