RI awards offshore wind farm rights to NJ firm
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Associated Press online - Sep 25 - By RAY HENRY
Rhode Island has granted a New Jersey-based renewable energy firm the right
to develop a wind farm miles off the coast that would generate 15 percent of
the state's electricity needs in the coming decade, officials said.
DeepwaterWind LLC estimates the project, being formally announced Thursday,
will cost $1 billion to $2 billion and benefit New England, which pays some
of the most expensive electricity bills in the nation because it is heavily
dependent on natural gas.
No offshore wind farms have been built in the United States, although they
have been proposed off Delaware, New Jersey, New York and in the Gulf of
Mexico. DeepwaterWind must still surmount multiple regulatory and financial
challenges before construction could start on a project that could take up
to seven years to complete. Feuds over wind turbine aesthetics have long
bogged down a wind farm proposed off Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
DeepwaterWind CEO Chris Brown said his firm builds turbines on large
platforms originally designed for offshore drilling rigs, which means they
can operate in deep waters and ideally out of sight of land. He expects to
build around 100 turbines more than 20 miles off the coast of Rhode Island.
"What we've really focused on is that we want to be beyond the horizon,"
Brown said in an interview. "We don't think that you have to choose between,
kind of, the view and the environment."
DeepwaterWind is backed by three partners: First Wind, DE Shaw & Co. and
Ospraie Management, LLC. Besides Rhode Island, it has recently proposed
projects in New Jersey and New York. If those plans come to fruition, the
company has agreed to locate its manufacturing headquarters at an industrial
park in North Kingstown. The firm now employs 15 full-time staffers, but
hopes to eventually employ 800 people in the state.
Gov. Don Carcieri previously set a goal of getting 15 percent of Rhode
Island's electricity from wind, a timeline his administration now
acknowledges it cannot meet. State energy officials studied Narragansett Bay
and the larger areas around it in April 2007 and identified possible sites
for more than 300 turbines.
The strongest winds blow south of Block Island, an affluent resort area
where residents pay high rates because their electric plant burns pricey
diesel fuel. Several island business owners have even threatened to reduce
costs by starting their own power company. As part of the development,
DeepwaterWind has proposed powering Block Island with electricity from the
wind turbines, which could lower prices.
Several obstacles remain before building could begin.
DeepwaterWind will now pay $3 million so Rhode Island environmental
officials can study how the state should utilize its sea floor, just as
cities and towns designate certain zones for homes, business and industrial
use.
"Think of it as a clear roadmap for development," said Saul Kaplan,
executive director of Rhode Island's Economic Development Corp.
The firm must also secure more than 100 permits from a host of state and
federal agencies, a process that could take two to four years. Afterward, it
must gather enough money to build the project.
Carcieri, a Republican, and lawmakers in the Democratic-dominated General
Assembly are still fighting over who will buy the electricity. Without
dedicated, long-term buyers, experts fear renewable energy developers will
be reluctant to build.
Rhode Island lawmakers passed a bill this year requiring National Grid, the
state's dominant power company, to buy electricity from renewable energy
projects for at least 10 years at a time. In return, National Grid would
have received a payment equal to 3 percent of the renewable energy it
bought.
Carcieri vetoed the bill, calling it overly generous to the utility.
Instead, he has asked the state Public Utilities Commission to force
National Grid to do the same thing but without compensation.
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