Deepwater has proposed the construction of a “Wind Energy Center” that would be capable of generating enough electricity to feed the grids of at least several East Coast states.
Under the proposal, as many as 200 offshore wind turbines would be placed in southern Rhode Island Sound, most of them in deep waters 20-25 miles from the coastline, producing approximately 1,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity – the largest renewable energy project ever proposed for the northeast United States.
“This ‘second generation’ of offshore wind farms will be larger and farther from shore, and will produce lower priced power, using more advanced technology than the offshore projects announced to date,” Deepwater Wind CEO William M. Moore said in a press release.
”We expect the offshore wind industry in the United States to follow the European experience, where a more mature industry is building larger projects farther from shore.”
In concert with the wind project itself, Deepwater Wind said it was putting together a regional offshore transmission network called the New England-Long Island Interconnector (NELI).
It would connect the offshore wind-power plant to southern New England and eastern Long Island and allow the energy produced to go to several states in the region, including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, and Connecticut.
Deepwater said that its project would take advantage of the stronger winds farther offshore, and that fact would help produce energy at a price “lower than that proposed for any offshore wind farm ever planned in the United States.”
* Pete Danko, EarthTechling
