WARWICK – The town of New Shoreham generally supports the offshore wind farm proposed by Deepwater Wind LLC, but two of its residents are fiercely opposed to it, according to testimony filed Tuesday with the R.I. Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
The testimony was filed as part of a hearing where the PUC is weighing whether a proposed power purchase agreement between National Grid and Deepwater is “commercially reasonable.”
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The proposed 20-year contract would see Deepwater sell electricity to National Grid for 24.4 cents per kilowatt-hour when it begins operating in 2013. (By comparison, electricity from more traditional sources, like coal-fired power plans, usually costs less than 10 cents a kilowatt-hour.)
Richard LaCapra, a consultant hired by New Shoreham, said the town would take no position on whether the contract met that requirement, but generally supported the concept of an offshore wind farm that Deepwater wants to place three miles off the island’s southeast coast. LaCapra also cautioned that the town did not want to see the proposed contract set a precedent.
The town also wants the PUC to discuss the contract and the proposed cable linking the island to the mainland separately. LaCapra said it was unclear if Block Island would utilize the cable to draw electricity from the mainland electric grid and more discussion was needed to determine who should pay for the cable and how much.
Also filing testimony were Michael and Maggie Delia, a New Jersey couple with a summer house on Block Island that would overlook the wind farm. The couple acknowledged that they were not energy market experts, but said the proposed contract would not be commercially reasonable and would have only a tiny effect in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“My concern is that the island itself will be irrevocably and negatively impacted by the introduction of an industrial wind farm in its near shores,” Maggie Delia said. “My concern is that Block Island is one of the last great places in the Western Hemisphere (it was designated in 1991 by the Nature Conservancy) and the proposed Block Island wind farm will change its character, feel, viewsheds, ecology, tourism and economy forever.”
She continued: “My concern is that whatever value may be gained in term of electricity savings (and that is suspect) will be negated by the loss of tourism, real estate values (sales as well as summer rentals), and all the jobs and income that are associated with the robust economy that Block Island has enjoyed.”
The couple also criticizes the town of New Shoreham for using Deepwater’s money to pay for consultants, saying it creates the appearance of a conflict of interest.
The two also hired William P. Short III, an independent consultant with a practice specializing in the field of renewable energy. In pre-filed testimony, Short said the proposed wind farm, with eight turbines, was too small to meet the “commercially reasonable” test and the farm would not stabilize electricity prices in the long term. Nor, he said, would it provide any net economic benefit to the state or raise the quality of the natural environment in the state.
Deepwater and National Grid will have an opportunity to respond to the claims as the hearings progress. The PUC is expected to issue a decision in late March or early April.
Additional information is available at ripuc.org.
