Block Island Project to Make R.I. Epicenter of New U.S. Offshore Wind Industry

Rhode Island is on its way to become the epicenter of the new U.S. offshore wind industry, Jeffrey Grybowski, chief executive officer of Deepwater Wind, has written in an Op-Ed in the Providence Journal.

The company, which is developing an offshore wind project off Block Island, hopes to obtain all of the required state and federal approvals in order to start the construction in late 2014. In this case, the Block Island Wind Farm would be operational by the fall of 2015.

“We expect that the Block Island Wind Farm will be the first of several offshore wind farms built along the East Coast,” Mr. Grybowski wrote.

He named the main reasons why offshore wind represents the most important source of energy for the East Coast. According to him, strong and steady winds off Block Island will ensure high efficiency and wind power will reduce carbon-dioxide and other greenhouse-gas emissions.

Finally, the Block Island project will create about 200 construction jobs locally, as well as long-term maintenance jobs. “This project will let Rhode Island acquire the skills needed to build more offshore wind projects in New England, creating many more jobs,” said Mr. Grybowski.

The Block Island Wind Farm will put to use all of the Rhode Island’s assets, which are important to the offshore wind industry, and “jumpstart a new industry”, Deepwater Wind’s CEO concluded.

[mappress]

Offshore WIND staff, April 12, 2013