Published November 15, 2010

The Mass. Department of Public Utilities says it is not ready to issue a decision on whether National Grid can buy power from Cape Wind.

There is no deadline for the decision, but National Grid had asked the state for a decision by Nov. 15 to be eligible for federal tax breaks.

The Cape Wind project won final federal approval in March after a decade-long battle. The project calls for 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound.

Cape Wind’s many opponents (including Ted Kennedy Jr.)  want to kill the National Grid deal, because they say it would result in higher utility rates for all of us.

Back in July, the Globe’s longtime Cape Wind reporter Beth Daley explained:

In May, National Grid revealed its agreement to buy half the power generated by Cape Wind at a starting price of 20.7 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2013, when the wind farm is expected to begin operating. That price would rise by 3.5 percent annually over the life of the 15-year contract, and is much more than the rates National Grid customers now pay for electricity.

Gov. Deval Patrick was the only gubernatorial candidate to support Cape Wind. He pushed aggressively for the project and appointed the DPU commissioners now deciding the National Grid deal.

DPU Director Tim Shevlin tells WBUR the decision will come “sometime soon.”