BOSTON, MA -- “Developing offshore wind power is one way America can become less dependent on imported oil,” said Cape Wind President Jim Gordon in response to the news that the price of oil surpassed $100 per barrel today. “Offshore wind is clean, abundant, inexhaustible, and here -- you don’t have to import it from the Middle East,” Gordon continued.

Currently, oil is the largest source of electricity generation capacity in Southeastern Massachusetts. Cape Wind would produce as much power in a year from the wind on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket Sound as an oil power plant would from burning 113 million gallons of oil.

Cape Wind has entered its final year of permitting to deploy proven offshore wind power technology on the windy, shallow and protected site of Horseshoe Shoal to provide 75% of the electricity supply of Cape Cod and the Islands.

Today offshore wind power can reduce reliance on oil fired power plants, in the future offshore wind power will also be able to supply fuel to cars, buses and trucks as the transportation sector develops 'plug-in hybrid' technology to derive more power from electricity to use less oil.

The U.S. Department of Energy produced an Offshore Wind Framework in 2005 that found there is enough offshore wind power long-term potential to meet most of the nation’s electricity needs.

###