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Rhode Island back in race for first US offshore wind farm

Rhode Island’s General Assembly has passed legislation that could put the state back in the running to build the nation’s first offshore wind farm.

The bill relating to “Public Utilities And Carriers – Contracting Standard for Renewable Energy” attempts to bypass the rejection of the eight-turbine Block Island project by the state’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC).

The Commission had said the proposal for selling power from the 28MW project would have been too expensive (see this BrighterEnergy.org story).

Under the new legislation, which state Governor Donald Carcieri has promised to sign as soon as it hits his desk, the PUC will carry out a fresh review of the project.

This will last 45 days, with the state’s Economic Development Corporation and Department of Environmental Management providing testimony on the economic development and environmental benefits of the project.

Any power purchase agreement with utility National Grid will be capped at the 24.4-cent-per-kWh rate originally vetoed by the PUC.

Auditing

Under the new arrangements there would be extra auditing on the construction costs involved in the project, with any savings to be passed on to consumers in reduced electricity rates. Cost overruns would be met by the project developer, Deepwater Wind.

As part of the project, an undersea cable will be established to create Block Island itself to the mainland, with island residents paying slightly more than other Rhode Islanders for the cable since it will provide them with energy security benefits.

The cable component of the project will have to be reviewed and approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Rep. J. Patrick O’Neill, one of the sponsors of the bill, insisted the Block Island wind farm would bring benefits including the attraction of offshore wind manufacturing companies as well as the clean energy benefits.

He said: “The Block Island wind farm project is an important step in our state’s ongoing effort to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and promote sources of renewable energy. With this bill, Rhode Island is poised to become a national leader in the manufacturing of wind turbines and clean energy.

“In addition to the many environmental benefits to this legislation, it will also bring countless construction jobs, manufacturing jobs, and green economy jobs to Rhode Island,” added Rep. O’Neill.

Governor

Governor Carcieri said he was expecting to sign the legislation as soon as it was transmitted to his desk.

He said: “Wind is rapidly becoming a technologically and cost competitive energy source. States up and down the East Coast are quickly moving to develop projects. Rhode Island has the opportunity to catapult into being first in the nation ‘in the water’ and set the pace for the emerging wind power industry, capturing the opportunity to attract the offshore wind supply chain.”

“The offshore wind industry holds the key to Rhode Island’s economic future,” continued Carcieri. “This $200 million dollar investment of private capital by Deepwater will be the catalyst for a multi-billion dollar industry that will create thousands of good paying jobs in this region and position Rhode Island as the Silicon Valley of Renewable Energy.”