Wind Energy Blows Into Rhode Island

By Chip Young

State’s ocean zoning will serve as a national model

First off, apologies for the play on words regarding wind energy in the headline, as the quota for those sorts of idiotic indulgences has been reached and breached.  It is evidently required by U.S. Internet Rule #3 governing blogs.

OK, let’s get serious.  Because Rhode Island’s entrance into the playing field of offshore renewable energy through a proposed wind farm is indeed very serious.  It is also very exciting.

For full disclosure, I am part of the team from the University of Rhode Island working on the Ocean Special Area Management Plan (O-SAMP), which will be zoning the ocean waters where the possibility of siting a wind farm exists, and evaluating those areas for their potential.  The areas being studied are delineated in the map above within the red lines, along with a breakout (yellow lines) of what are state waters, versus those under federal jurisdiction.  The O-SAMP work is under the direction of the Coastal Resources Management Council, being led by its executive director, Grover Fugate.  The team itself includes dozens of leading experts from the University of Rhode Island and its Graduate School of Oceanography, as well as members from Roger Williams University.  As the various stakeholder, science and legal advisory groups are formed, there will also be wide and deep public involvement in the process.

One of the most important things to know about the whole offshore wind energy initiative the state is involved in is the distinct separation—a firewall, if you will—between the science and research being conducted by the O-SAMP team, and the policy and financial side, which involves the Governor’s Office, the state Office of Energy Resources and the R.I. Economic Development Corporation.  “We have already had discussions with the Governor and his office, who are in agreement that this process has to be independent and scientifically-based,” said Fugate of the O-SAMP effort.

The provision of information and communication among all parties and the public will be a priority.  For current information and ongoing updates on the progress of the science and research work see the O-SAMP web site.  For further information on the O-SAMP, contact Monica Allard Cox at (401) 874-6015, or via e-mail at:oceansamp@gso.uri.edu. Please take the time to learn about and get involved in this very progressive effort, which has enormous ramifications for the future.

A developer has already been chosen, Deepwater Wind, a New Jersey firm.  One of the requirements of the O-SAMP process requires the developer to reimburse the state for the cost of the research and science work that will be undertaken to determine possible sites for a wind farm.

The eyes of the country will be on Rhode Island as the O-SAMP process plays out, as the state is already in the lead nationally in zoning its ocean waters, and the streamlined process that is in place with CRMC in the lead can make the initiative a more efficient—while being thoroughly equitable and accountable—process than those in other states that are taking on this alternative energy challenge.

Stay tuned.