(Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series on the challenges and opportunities of solar- and wind-farm development in Rhode Island and the role of such projects in helping the state reach its renewable energy goals. See part 1 here.)
Offshore wind energy has been an attention-grabber for Rhode Island since the 2016 installation of the Block Island Wind Farm, the nation’s first such ocean installation.
With construction of three much bigger projects now expected to start within the next five years off the Ocean State’s coast, offshore wind remains full of promise but has also been plagued by delays.
While proponents dream of towering turbines dotting the ocean horizon, smaller versions have been generating renewable energy onshore in the state for 14 years, ever since one at Portsmouth Abbey School started spinning in 2006. That steady, albeit modest, production is especially important in Rhode Island, where Gov. Gina M. Raimondo has set a goal of powering the state with 100% renewable electricity by 2030.
With two relatively new wind farms in Johnston and Coventry, onshore wind is firmly rooted in the state, though the pace of its growth, and how much it could ultimately contribute to Rhode Island’s renewable energy production, is less sure.
According to the R.I. Office of Energy Resources, land-based turbines in Rhode Island reached a capacity of 144 megawatts of power during the third quarter of last year. By contrast, offshore wind has far more potential. The sweeping projects proposed for installation in the waters off Rhode Island are expected to generate 400 megawatts – enough to power more than 270,000 homes – for the state once they are online. The five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm generates 30 megawatts.
Onshore, the state’s small size means space is limited for turbines. On top of that, harnessing wind energy on land can be a complicated process, according to Chris Kearns, policy and legislation liaison at the state Office of Energy Resources.
Local permitting requirements, connecting with the power grid, obtaining Federal Aviation Administration approval in some circumstances and stiff resistance from residents can all slow and stop wind-energy development on land, Kearns said.
Yet, despite the challenges, Rhode Island holds its own in onshore wind power.
“We are probably similar to … other states in the Northeast in terms of project development,” Kearns said.
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MORE POWER: Hannah Morini is the director of business development at Green Development, which built the wind turbine at 42 Thornton Way in North Kingstown. Morini says wind power makes more sense than solar from a land-use perspective. / PBN PHOTO/MIKE SKORSKI[/caption]
LEADING THE WAY
One company, Green Development LLC of North Kingstown, has developed the bulk of Rhode Island’s land-based wind projects since its first turbine came online nearly 10 years ago. The firm operates or maintains 13 of the 27 operational turbines in the state, including the state’s largest wind farm, the $100 million, seven-turbine Johnston project, which generates 21 megawatts.
Green Development’s dominance is not the state’s doing, Kearns said, emphasizing that state officials don’t choose which companies propose projects.
“We provide stable and predictable programs and let the market react to those policies,” Kearns said.
And Green Development has reacted. Right now, it’s navigating the final permitting stages for two 1.5-megawatt turbines on a parcel owned by Johnson & Wales University on Harborside Boulevard in Providence, just south of three existing turbines owned by the Narragansett Bay Commission along the Providence River.
In addition, another Green Development 1.5-megawatt turbine is planned close by, at a site near ProvPort Inc. on Fields Point Drive in Providence.
The three new turbines will sell power directly to National Grid Rhode Island and are expected to be operational by the end of the year, according to Hannah Morini, Green Development’s director of business development.
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RHODE ISLAND’S LAND WIND TURBINES
SOURCES: R.I. OFFICE OF ENERGY RESOURCES AND MUNICIPAL RECORDS
PBN GRAPHIC/ANNE EWING
Note: Locations of turbines on map are approximate.[/caption]
FACING HEADWINDS
While the idea of renewable energy is comforting in an age of growing awareness about carbon emissions and climate change, Rhode Island residents have shown they’re not so keen on immense wind turbines appearing close to their homes.
One proposal by Green Development, a 462-foot turbine on Old Smithfield Road in North Smithfield, was unanimously denied by the town’s zoning board last spring after heated opposition from residents worried about noise, shadow flicker and other issues. The company has since sued in state court, challenging the zoning board’s decision.
Another lawsuit, filed in state court by Green Development in 2016 against West Warwick’s zoning board and finance director, is appealing the zoning board’s denial of a special-use permit for a 414-foot wind turbine.
And while 10 turbines maintained by Green Development are already dotting the rural landscape of western Coventry, some residents are still grumbling that local officials allowed the project to come to fruition.
The seven turbines spinning on the outskirts of the Central Landfill in Johnston haven’t escaped complaints, either. After 524-foot structures appeared in 2018, residents in nearby Alpine Estates across the border in western Cranston were outraged that they had no say on the project that looms over the neighborhood.
Since developers aren’t required to obtain state permits for wind projects unless they are within a certain distance of the coastline, a wetland or interstate highway, there is no state agency that keeps a comprehensive list of upcoming ventures.
Permission for such projects is generally granted through the planning or zoning boards of local municipalities, Kearns said.
Proximity to the coastline may require an R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council permit, and projects bordering wetlands may need a permit from the R.I. Department of Environmental Management. If proposed turbines would sit close to interstates or bridges, the R.I. Department of Transportation would require a permit.
Kearns said he is only aware of one upcoming wind project – Green Development’s proposed turbine near ProvPort.
Perhaps because of community backlash from some of its recent proposals, Green Development is mum about any other Rhode Island wind proposals that may be on the drawing boards.
“As far as talking about specific projects, it doesn’t make sense to do it at such an early stage,” Morini said.
Green Development did say it takes noise and shadow flicker into account when considering properties for turbine placement and, for those reasons, rejects a majority of possible sites. “We plan for potential impacts with the utmost concern and would not propose any new wind turbine in an area where residences would be negatively impacted,” Morini said.
The North Smithfield site, however, had no homes in the “flicker zones,” she said, and it had enough distance and natural vegetation to muffle “any soft, whooshing sound” from the blades.
‘BIG TRAGEDY’
Community uproar and government permitting aren’t the only obstacles for some looking to capitalize on wind power.
Blake Henderson had high hopes for the 100-kilowatt turbine he had installed at the Easton Pond Business Center in Middletown’s Aquidneck Corporate Park in 2009.
The 157-foot turbine was supposed to generate enough power for the center, which Henderson owns, but a lightning strike in 2014 ended that plan.
After being told that neither the installer nor the manufacturer would repair the turbine for free, Henderson was unprepared to spend $150,000 for the work. He’d already paid $300,000 for the turbine, he said, and had been footing regular bills for various maintenance issues.
While it was working, the turbine generated up to 20% of the business center’s power needs, but eventually it became clear that its estimated lifespan would end before the investment paid off.
“It wasn’t anywhere near as efficient as they said it was going to be, and every year it broke down,” Henderson said.
On top of that, the turbine manufacturer, Northern Power Systems Corp. in Vermont, went out of business. The structure was dismantled.
“Our wind turbine story is a big tragedy,” Henderson said.
Repair issues also proved insurmountable for a 230-foot turbine that went up in 2012 at the Sandywoods Farm affordable-housing development in Tiverton.
Manufactured by the French company Vergnet, the two-blade, 275-kilowatt turbine, made for hurricane zones, has a base that can be lowered but it hasn’t worked for almost two years, according to Christian Belden, executive director of Church Community Housing Corp., Sandywoods’ Newport-based developer.
Originally expected to produce about 50% of the arts and agricultural community’s power needs, the turbine malfunctioned frequently and its “downtime was significantly more than was advertised,” Belden said.
The developer, a nonprofit, is looking into either replacing or removing the machine.
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GROWING IN NUMBERS: The three 1.5-megawatt turbines on the Narragansett Bay Commission property along the Providence waterfront may be joined by three more turbines nearby if planned projects by Green Development LLC become reality. / COURTESY PETER GOLBERG FOR NARRAGANSETT BAY COMMISSION[/caption]
R.I.’S POWER PICTURE
Wind energy supplied 2.2% of the state’s electricity needs in 2018, powering the equivalent of 15,700 homes, according to the American Wind Energy Association, a national trade group.
As of the fourth quarter of 2019, Rhode Island ranked No. 37 nationwide for its number of wind turbines, and No. 29 for its percentage of wind-generated energy, the AWEA said.
For onshore wind, the state calculates capacity growth but not the amount of power actually being generated. Onshore wind capacity during the third quarter of 2019 increased 38.4% from the same period the previous year.
State officials attribute the increase to programs such as the Renewable Energy Fund and Renewable Energy Growth Program, along with virtual net metering.
Some organizations in Rhode Island, such as the Narragansett Bay Commission, New England Institute of Technology, Shalom Housing Inc. and Portsmouth Abbey School own individual wind turbines that are net-metered, meaning power that’s not used by those organizations is fed into the power grid and credited to those organizations.
Others take advantage of incentives to support the state’s portfolio of renewable energy sources.
By signing virtual net-metering agreements with wind-energy developers, organizations such as state agencies, hospitals, colleges, public housing sites and quasi-state agencies have saved millions of dollars.
While net-metered turbines use some of their power generation for the properties to which they’re directly wired, virtual net-metering allows for unused electricity to be fed into the power grid and the credits are “assigned” to an off-site entity that has signed an agreement.
Take the R.I. Convention Center, which has a virtual net-metering agreement with Green Development’s Johnston wind farm.
“There is not a conventional electrical circuit extension cord that goes from the wind turbine to the convention center,” said John Kennedy, National Grid’s manager of customer energy integration in Rhode Island. “The net-metering credits they receive are done behind the scenes on their bill, so that the generator allocates credits to fill up their generating or their exporting. We track that on their generator’s electric account and we transfer those credits on behalf of the generator to the convention center. It’s all done with our billing system.”
Morini, of Green Development, said the company’s virtual net-metering agreements are in place with 11 organizations. The agreements, which cover wind and solar power, have saved those groups about $15 million in energy credits doled out by the state.
“It can save them 30% or more on their electric bill in a lot of cases,” Morini said.
Power whipped up by most wind turbines in Rhode Island is connected to National Grid and distributed to customers. The company estimates that about 25 turbines are connected to its system but says it does not keep data on what percentage of homes and businesses use wind energy.
‘RELIABLE INFRASTRUCTURE’
Although many, including Kearns, say offshore wind will eventually outpace land-based wind energy, Morini, of Green Development, points out that onshore projects play an important role in the power industry.
Smaller-scale wind ventures can be a good fit for community needs, as opposed to enormous offshore wind farms, she said.
“The projects that we install onshore in Rhode Island … the electricity goes directly into the local utility lines. It lends itself to more-reliable infrastructure; the projects pay for expensive upgrades to our electric system,” Morini said.
Wind energy’s practicality, in terms of the amount of space it requires, also points to a sunny future, she added.
“From a land-use perspective, it makes far more sense than solar. You would need 8 to 10 acres of solar to produce the same amount of clean, renewable energy as one of our 1.5-megawatt turbines,” Morini said.
Kearns has a different take on solar energy and its position on the tier of renewable energy sources in Rhode Island.
“Land-based, wind-turbine development will continue to play a role, but it’s going to be at a slower pace than the solar market in terms of residential and commercial solar development,” he said.
Solar panels can perch on rooftops or cover brownfield areas and other uninviting patches of land, he pointed out, while the visibility of wind turbines can work against them.
“There will be opportunities [for wind], but it’s very site-specific and it’s subject to local municipal approval to review those applications,” Kearns said. “Land-based wind will continue to play a role but certainly offshore wind and solar will be a much more active renewable market.”
Elizabeth Graham is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Graham@PBN.com.
