Despite pressure from the governor and other state officials, National Grid has again rejected a proposal to buy clean power from a developer proposing to build a $200-million wind farm off Block Island. In a letter filed late Wednesday afternoon with state regulators, Rhode Island's largest electric utility said it would not agree to the latest offer from Deepwater Wind for power from the eight-turbine wind farm that would provide electricity to Block Island because the price is still too high.

After two months of talks, Deepwater Wind LLC and National Grid are still unable to agree upon a contract for the utility to purchase electricity from the developer's offshore wind farm. ...National Grid submitted an unsigned power-purchase agreement, saying the two sides remained apart over the issue of price. National Grid said the cost of electricity from the eight-turbine wind farm planned off the coast of Block Island would be 25.3 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2013, the first full year of operation. The price would rise 3.5 percent each year after that.

Gov. Don Carcieri this week signed modified legislation that would allow Deepwater Wind to install up to eight wind turbines in state waters south of Block Island capable of generating 12 megawatts of electricity operating at 40 percent efficiency.

A survey in Rhode Island shows that 89% have positive opinions on the use of wind turbines to generate electricity, but 50% rate the cost of wind as an important issue and 44% say noise is an important consideration. The state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and the town of Narragansett surveyed local residents on the possible installation of three to 6 wind turbines on state or town properties in the area. The town is located on the Atlantic Ocean, near Nantucket.

One issue disputed by Deepwater Wind and National Grid in their negotiations over a power purchase agreement has been resolved by an amendment to a state renewable energy law. Both chambers of the General Assembly approved new language in the law late Thursday night. The change will allow Deepwater to install up to eight 3.6-megawatt turbines off the coast of Block Island rather than the six machines that National Grid argued was the maximum number allowed under the original version of the law.

Six local environmental groups have voiced concerns about a plan to construct a wind turbine at Black Point, a coastal site in Narragansett that is protected for public use. The organizations last week sent a letter to Gov. Donald Carcieri '65, questioning the site's suitability. According to a press release from the letter's signatories, then-Gov. Edward DiPrete protected Black Point in 1987 to "prevent a condominium development on important land with recognized rights of public access to the shore."

After the long session on the deer hunting Wednesday, the Town Council voted to formally become intervenors in the Public Utilities Commission hearing regarding the power purchase agreement between Deepwater Wind and National Grid. The council agreed to hire Alan Mandl to assist Town Solicitor Katherine Merolla as well as consultant Richard La Capra. First Warden Kim Gaffett acknowledged that it would be "an expensive process," but that the town would seek reimbursement from Deepwater, which promised to cover the town's consultant bills, regardless of what position the town takes. Becoming an intervenor "gives us a voice at the hearing," said Gaffett, and allows the town to gather information.

The town Electric Utility Task Group met Friday, the day after National Grid rejected Deepwater Wind's proposed power contract, which it called "uneconomic by a significant margin for Rhode Island customers." While the fate of Deepwater's proposed eight-turbine "Block Island Farm" remains in limbo, Block Island Power Company President Cliff McGinnes Sr. told the group that he saw an opening for the town in National Grid's suggestion that a cable to the mainland was still possible without a wind farm. McGinnes urged the town to seize the opportunity.

National Grid is willing to resume negotiations with Deepwater Wind over a power-purchase agreement if certain conditions are met first, according to a letter from the utility to the offshore wind farm developer. The primary stipulation is that Deepwater must commit to a price that increases at a consistent annual rate and is not subject to other variables, such as potential delays or other complications that could raise the cost of the developer's plan to install up to eight turbines off Block Island.

The Planning Board this week revisited the issue of a public utility zone at the transfer station, which would make it possible for the town to install a municipal wind turbine there. After much discussion Wednesday night, it became apparent that at least half of the six-member board had second thoughts about the original proposal. The controversial proposal met with much public outcry at a public hearing October 5.

National Grid late Thursday rejected Deepwater Wind LLC's initial proposal to supply electricity from a planned wind farm off Block Island, throwing a monkey wrench into the Carcieri administration's efforts to boost renewable energy in Rhode Island. Both the governor and the R.I. Economic Development Corporation (EDC) have urged the Grid and Deepwater to keep talking.

Would the capacity of a proposed electricity cable from Block Island to the mainland allow for more than the eight wind turbines currently planned by developer Deepwater Wind? Block Island Power Company President Cliff McGinnes Sr. revealed at Monday's Electric Utility Task Group meeting that the proposed size of the cable to the mainland is 69 kVa (kilovolt-amperes), which surprised task group members and newly hired consultant Richard La Capra. That capacity "seems awfully high," said La Capra.

Blue H USA, a Dutch-owned company that wants to anchor floating wind turbines some 20 miles southwest of Martha's Vineyard to harness offshore ocean winds, has applied for a permit from the U.S. Army Corps. The company wants to anchor a demonstration unit on the outer continental shelf approximately 23 miles off Squibnocket Point in Chilmark and about 32 miles southeast of Block Island, R.I. according to the Army Corps.

Three ocean-going research and survey vessels will be plying Rhode Island’s coastal waters this month to collect data for the unprecedented ocean-mapping effort that is paving the way for the proposed $1.5-billion wind turbine farm that Governor Carcieri wants to develop south of Block Island. ...The first two vessels are already at work, and the Endeavor is scheduled for two five-day cruises later this month, according to Grover Fugate, executive director of the Coastal Resources Management Council. The CRMC is halfway into a two-year effort to survey and map the state’s coastal waters so it can determine the best place to locate the wind farm.

Three research vessels will ply Rhode Island's coastal waters this month to gather information for the planned $1.5 billion wind turbine farm that Governor Carcieri wants to develop offshore. ...All three vessels are supplying data for an unprecedented ocean mapping program by the state's Coastal Resources Management Council to plan for the best location for the wind farm.

Deepwater, a New Jersey-based start-up company, proposes installing five to eight wind turbines in waters about three miles from the island by 2012. The small wind farm, which would be the first of two the company is proposing in Rhode Island, would provide more than enough power for Block Island when the wind is blowing. Any excess would be fed through an underwater cable to the mainland and the grid that supplies power to the rest of the state.

Members of the Block Island Residents Association were treated to a windfall of sorts Saturday, with three presentations about wind energy, including a focus on a proposed wind farm off the coast of the island. Deepwater Wind CEO Bill Moore spoke, as did Gary Gump, who spearheaded Portsmouth's effort to install a municipal turbine that is on the way to providing for all of that town's municipal energy needs.

Plans to develop a small wind farm on private property next to the Shelter Harbor Golf Club have been abandoned due to the unexpected death earlier this year of one of the principals of Green Machine Bio LLC, a local company that had proposed the project. William Green of Westerly and his partner, Jack Johannemann, had received permission from the Zoning Board of Review to erect a test tower.

A company responsible for installing Portsmouth's much-celebrated new wind turbine owes subcontractors nearly $250,000, according to lawsuits filed in Superior Court. The largest creditor is Hallamore, the heavy equipment operator, which in June filed suit, seeking $201,363. HB Welding of Pawtucket also has filed to secure $38,296 it says it is owed. Both companies say they have not received any money from the defendants, AAER Wind Energy of Canada, AAER USA, and Wind Smart LLC.

The state Department of Environmental Management, in conjunction with the town, is mailing surveys to 800 residents to gauge public perception about wind turbines. The survey is being conducted "to collect information . . .to better inform state and local officials on concerns by the possible construction" of wind turbines.