Company proposes offshore wind farm ahead of Cape Wind

Source: E&E • Posted: Monday, October 8, 2012

Deepwater Wind LLC has proposed to start building an offshore wind farm off Rhode Island by early 2014, the company’s chief executive said.

The project, 3 miles southeast of Block Island, would be ahead of the Cape Wind farm long expected to be the country’s first offshore facility.

“The Block Island project is on target to become the nation’s first offshore wind project,” CEO William Moore said.

The company yesterday submitted the final state and federal permit applications for the project, which is expected to cost $250 million and produce 30 megawatts — enough to power about 10,000 homes in Rhode Island.

Deepwater expects the small wind farm to serve as a steppingstone to larger projects.

“With Block Island, we are gaining real-time information on what it will cost to build the bigger project,” Moore said. “That is a huge competitive advantage as we look to transition to the 1,000-megawatt [Deepwater Wind Energy Center] we are hoping to build in federal waters.”

The company is planning other projects along the East Coast, including three 1,000 MW projects that could each power about 350,000 homes (Scott DiSavino, Reuters, Oct. 3). — JE