Shields filed a complaint in Superior Court last July that alleged that a subcommittee of the state Coastal Resources Management Council showed bias toward Deepwater during hearings on the Providence-based company’s proposal last February.

Legal Offshore Wind Rhode Island

Deepwater Wind now expects its five-turbine offshore wind farm planned near Block Island to produce more power than originally projected, resulting in potentially lower prices for consumers, company CEO Jeffrey Grybowski told the state Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday.

Offshore Wind Rhode Island

According to an announcement Wednesday from the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, the feasibility study’s findings “do not support pursuing large-scale wind energy at Newport at this time for a combination of reasons, including technological, historical and community concerns.”

General Rhode Island

An outpouring of support from lawmakers and environmentalists for an offshore wind farm 30 miles from Montauk appears to have been decisive in helping push the politically connected developer's project to LIPA's list of finalists.

Offshore Wind New York Rhode Island

The Town Council's unanimous vote on Nov. 6 to allow the broken high-school turbine to be taken down and replaced, with a $1.4 million payment from developer Mark DePasquale and additional state funds, is a turnaround for the embattled project that Gov. Lincoln Chafee has called a "symbol of embarrassment."

General Rhode Island

In an unanimous vote, the town entered into a contract (attached to this page) with Wind Energy Development (WED) of North Kingstown that will allow the town to pay off the remaining debt that’s left on the turbine, which voters approved with a $3 million bond issue in 2007. The turbine was built in 2009 but has been idle since 2012 due to a faulty gearbox that was supplied by a company that has since gone bankrupt.

General Rhode Island

Facing a Nov. 1 deadline set by the company seeking to replace the wind turbine at the high school, the Portsmouth Town Council on Oct. 20 instructed Town Administrator John C. Klimm to open talks with the school committee to bring them on board. Mr. Klimm said on Monday night that he was planning to meet with members of the school committee on Tuesday afternoon.

General Rhode Island

The circular logic of REC market fundamentals would have low REC pricing jeopardizing future development. As renewable energy project profit margins get squeezed, fewer projects will be built and forward REC prices would rebound as forward supply tightens.The worry is that offshore wind projects could break this self-correcting market logic in the New England Power Pool (NEPOOL).

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service has issued an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to Deepwater Wind Block Island LLC (DWBI) to take marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to construction of the Block Island Wind Farm. The authorization is effective from Oct. 31, 2014, through Oct. 30, 2015.

Impact on Wildlife USA Rhode Island

The project’s lead federal permitting agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, granted its approval Sept. 5. With the Corps’ permit, the Block Island Wind Farm has now been completely reviewed, and approved, by nine state and federal agencies.

General USA Rhode Island

One of Rhode Island's largest energy users has dropped plans for a wind farm and is instead moving toward solar energy. Naval Station Newport says its wind project — 12 sites on the western shore of Aquidneck Island had been scouted — has been “placed in a strategic pause” because of the fiscal climate, regulatory and environmental issues, and community concerns.

General Rhode Island

According to Shield’s complaint, the subcommittee violated its own regulations whenChair Anne Livingston and council member Donald Gomez repeatedly interrupted Shields’ testimony in opposition to the project, claiming that his discussion of the financial impacts were not relevant or within their jurisdiction.

Legal Rhode Island

The wind turbine at Portsmouth High School that has sat idle since its gearbox broke in May 2012 could be spinning again within three to six months, ending what Governor Chafee said Monday  has been one of a few “symbols of embarrassment” in the state that bother him.

General Rhode Island

Building more electricity transmission into New England isn't about an "energy crisis." It's about economics, jobs, corporate profit, failure to make the small fixes that add up, failure to do detailed analysis, failure to resist stampede crisis mentality, and lots of other things.

Energy Policy Transmission Connecticut Maine Massachusetts New Hampshire Rhode Island Vermont

The price of wholesale electricity in New England fell 14 percent in May, continuing the two-month downward slide from the record high prices from the first quarter, according to regional grid administrator ISO New England.

Connecticut Maine Massachusetts New Hampshire Rhode Island Vermont

“The states and NESCOE are deliberately working out the details of this plan in secret, consistent with the view of one of NESCOE’s staffers that the plan should be ‘formulated behind closed doors’ because the ‘court of public opinion can be fickle and recalcitrant,’ ” Courchesne wrote, quoting an email from a NESCOE staff member to Executive Director Heather Hunt.

Impact on Economy Energy Policy Connecticut Maine Massachusetts New Hampshire Rhode Island Vermont

The six New England governors, working with the New England States Committee on Electricity (NESCO) and regional grid operators, have launched a process under which Northern Pass partners may be able to acquire substantial ratepayer funding and eminent domain powers for the controversial plan to bring hydroelectricity from Quebec into New England.

Transmission Connecticut Maine Massachusetts New Hampshire Rhode Island Vermont

Final agreements are still due from the R.I. Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, the Narragansett Tribe, the Wampanoag Aquinnah Tribe on Martha’s Vineyard and from the National Park Service, related to the Block Island Southeast Light, said Elliott.

General Rhode Island

It’s not just the town that has a stake in the windmill. The idle turbine is a black eye for Rhode Island’s wind-power industry, which has stalled in recent years, and for state government, which has worked hard to develop local sources of renewable energy.

Impact on Economy Rhode Island

“I think it would be really disastrous for us to take it down for a number of reasons,” Town Planner Gary Crosbysaid. “Our taxpayers would have to continue to pay the loan off, plus it wouldn’t be good for the wind industry as a whole to have a failed project like this.” However, he said, if the town gets the turbine running again, the operation won’t be the money-maker that it originally set out to be.

Structural Failure Rhode Island