Politics & Government

U.S. Interior Secretary Calls For Wind Farms Off RI's Coast

Quonset Point may be poised to become job creation hub if used as an assembly station for potential wind farms in Rhode Island's coastal waters.

The movement to bring offshore wind projects to the coasts of New England got a boost from the federal government Wednesday when  U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced a federal initiative to bring offshore wind projects to the coasts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

In what Salazar called a “major milestone,” the federal government is calling for letters of interest within the next 45 days from those wanting to develop wind farms off the coast of Rhode Island. Salazar made the announcement Wednesday morning in a press conference  at Quonset’s Compass Rose Beach with members of the state’s congressional delegation and the governor. The area of land, off the coast of Rhode and Massachusetts between Block Island and Martha’s Vineyard is located on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and spans 285 square miles of federal land. (See a map of the area here.) According to Salazar, the energy harnessed from offshore wind farms along the Atlantic Coast could power most of the country.

For Salazar, the timeline for the project, called “Smart from the Start,” is expected to be rapid as Rhode Island’s first offshore wind project could be approved by the federal government as early as next year.

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“Rhode Island is poised to be the point of the spear in renewable energy in this country,” Salazar said.

North Kingstown’s Quonset Business Park may play a pivotal role in the development of these wind projects, added Salazar. Between the $10 million already invested in Special Area Management Plan and the $22.3 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) to improve infrastructure and operations, Quonset is at an advantage to become an assembly site for these large-scale wind turbines.

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“The advantage we have at Quonset Point is that these turbines need to immediately get on a barge and to the building site,” said Sen. Jack Reed. “What we offer is a site that’s literally right next to the barge.”

As the assembly site for these projects, Quonset could stand to become a “hub” of job creation, said Salazar.

“There is no single project that has better hope for a significant change in unemployment,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, who was cosponsor of the Offshore Wind Power Act. “This is a day of great potential.”

Interested developers have 45 days to notify the Department of the Interior. Deepwater Wind, which has already proposed one wind farm, has three sites totaling 117 acres in Quonset Business Park. If selected, Deepwater Wind says it aims to have turbines in the water by 2016 or 2017.


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