Offshore Wind Wire

Three months after the Rhode Island regulators decided a power purchase agreement for the Block Island offshore wind project was too expensive, state lawmakers have restarted the process.

The Providence Journal reported yesterday that Gov. Don Carcieri signed legislation “that establishes an abbreviated process for the PUC to consider the merits of a long-term agreement for National Grid to buy power from the eight-turbine wind farm that Deepwater is planning in state waters off Block Island.”

The Journal quoted Carcieri saying ““I want Rhode Island to be the first state in the United States to construct an offshore wind farm … because it’s who gets there first … that is going to become the focal point of development up and down the East Coast.”