When the time comes to build a wind farm in Rhode Island, the developer of the offshore Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound says his firm might want to build it.
“[The state] has innovative people that want to put renewable energy on the grid,” said Jim Gordon, president of Boston-based Cape Wind Associates. “We would be interested in looking at development opportunities in Rhode Island.”
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Gov. Donald L. Carcieri has set a goal of having 15 percent of Rhode Island’s electricity come from wind power, and the state has launched an initiative to make it happen.
Dubbed RI WINDS, the effort is part of a five-pronged agenda announced by the Republican governor in January to keep the state’s energy costs in check. R.I. Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano has taken up the wind energy cause, and the R.I. State Energy Office and R.I. Economic Development Corporation are co-managing the project.
Though still at the conceptual stage, the wind initiative has attracted interest from at least four private developers, said Andrew C. Dzykewicz, Carcieri’s chief energy adviser and head of the energy office.
In addition, Michael McMahon, executive director of the EDC, said there is a “significant amount of capital” to finance wind farm construction. Before heading up the quasi-state agency, McMahon helped found a venture capital firm invested heavily in the energy sector.
McMahon noted that JP Morgan Capital, John Deere and GE Capital provide millions of dollars of financing for wind energy projects in the United States. GE likes to invest in wind energy because the facilities use its equipment, he said, and John Deere benefits from its long-standing relationship with farms, typical sites for wind facilities in the Midwest.
State and federal subsidies are also available to renewable energy producers. Operators get renewable energy credits, which are then sold to electric utilities to increase their portfolio of renewable energy sources, Dzykewicz said.
Meanwhile, Rhode Island plans to use money from its Renewable Energy Fund to pay for a study of where best to site wind turbines in the state, based on wind flow and the chances of gaining permits.
Still, Dzykewicz said the state would not consider bids from developers for another 18 months to two years, by which time the study will be completed and viable sites identified.
Yet that time frame doesn’t prevent contractors from considering the project. Noting the governor’s support of wind energy, Gordon seemed optimistic about the chances of a wind farm gaining the necessary approvals in Rhode Island.
“I think the state of Rhode Island wisely put out the welcome mat for renewable energy development,” Gordon said. “I think this will unleash private-sector developers to contribute to this program.”
Gordon’s plans for the $800 million Cape Wind project include 130 offshore turbines, capable of meeting three-quarters of electricity demand on Cape Cod and nearby islands.
The project would produce 420 megawatts of electricity, according to the Cape Wind, almost three times as much as the 150 megawatts called for in the RI WINDS proposal.
Cape Wind has faced strong opposition from Nantucket residents and politicians, who criticize its potential impact on property values, fisheries and air travel, among other things. More than four years into the permitting process, Gordon said he hopes to begin construction by late this year or early 2007.
In Rhode Island, Dzykewicz said, charts indicate that the strongest wind currents in the state are offshore and along the coast, but an offshore wind farm could be more expensive and difficult to permit. At the same time, the state wants to avoid locations that would draw opposition from landowners and regulatory authorities. The goal is to build one or more wind farms by 2009 to 2011, Dzykewicz said.
A land-based facility would require approval from the R.I. Department of Environmental Management and municipal boards. Offshore facilities fall under the jurisdiction of the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council and, depending on its size, the U.S. Minerals Management Service, officials say.
In part to prevent the kind of opposition that Cape Wind has faced, McMahon said, the state is talking to landowners about putting test turbines on their properties. Believing that the state’s wind energy will come from multiple land-based sites, McMahon said the pilot program will help educate the public about the benefits of turbines while identifying the best sites.
“Once we have the public opinion shaped properly and the engineering analysis done,” McMahon said, “then we would look to work with the private sector to actually come in and build the towers throughout the state.”
