Carcieri to seek bids for an offshore wind farm

The state will seek bids from private developers to build and operate an offshore wind farm designed to generate 1.3-million megawatt-hours per year just south of Block Island, under a plan announced last week by Gov. Donald L. Carcieri.
Such a project would require an estimated 105 wind turbines, making the size of the wind farm about as large as the proposed Cape Wind project off Cape Cod.
The proposal would meet Carcieri’s goal of securing 15 percent of the state’s energy needs through clean-energy sources.
Questions remained after the governor’s April 3rd press conference regarding the cost of the project and the time frame.
Carcieri characterized the request for proposals as an attempt to gauge interest in such a project from the private sector.
The project would substantially lower electricity prices on Block Island, where the cost is among the highest in the country.
The governor’s plan appears at odds with a proposal by the staff of the state agency charged with permitting projects in state waters to put a one-year moratorium on development proposals.
State officials were caught off guard last fall when Allco Renewable Energy Group, a New York-based company, proposed erecting hundreds of wind turbines off Rhode Island’s coast.
Grover Fugate, executive director of the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council, has argued the moratorium is needed to give the agency time to draft regulations for wind projects, which would ultimately speed the lengthy permitting process.
Carcieri did say he likes other elements of the agency’s proposal, including creating a special area management plan to craft zoning regulations for state waters.
Which agency would lead the governor’s effort was unclear last week, since Carcieri has proposed folding the CRMC into the Department of Environmental Management. &#8226