WASHINGTON – Deepwater Wind, the company picked by the Carcieri administration to build a massive offshore wind farm in Rhode Island Sound, has been awarded two leases to study the wind potential off New Jersey, the federal government said yesterday.

The leases give Hoboken, N.J.-based Deepwater permission to put up meteorological towers in two locations 15 to 18 miles off the New Jersey coast to collect wind and environmental data, Reuters. States’ jurisdiction over the ocean extends up to three miles offshore, while the federal government has jurisdiction from three to 200 miles offshore.

“Wind energy off the Atlantic coast is a very significant resource,” Salazar said at a press conference in Atlantic City, according to Reuters. “The technology is proven, effective and available, and can create new jobs for Americans while reducing our expensive and dangerous dependence on foreign oil.”

Deepwater was one of three companies that received leases, which were the first-ever granted by the U.S. for offshore wind exploration. The other companies were Bluewater Wind LLC, owned by the Australian investment firm Babcock & Brown, and Fisherman’s Energy of New Jersey, based in Cape May, N.J.

Reuters reported that the three companies are proposing to build wind farms that could generate enough electricity to power 120,000 homes at a cost of $1.5 billion, similar to the scope of Deepwater’s proposed Rhode Island project, which is currently being reviewed.

As part of its agreement with the state, Deepwater has said it plans to base its East Coast manufacturing headquarters at Quonset Point. The company says it expects to create roughly 800 new jobs there.

Jim Lanard, Deepwater’s managing director, told The Philadelphia Inquirer he expects the company’s towers to be installed during the summer of 2010 at a cost of $7 million, about half of which will be picked up by the New Jersey government.

There are no offshore wind farms in the U.S. currently, but several have been built in Europe. In April, the Obama administration issued a long-awaited final set of rules for the development of offshore wind farms in the U.S.

Additional information on the federal government’s offshore energy policies is available at MMS.gov.