Rhode Island Supreme Court rules in favor of Deep Water

August 29, 2011

Rhode Island: The Rhode Island Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the long-term contract for power sale with the National Grid set in place by off-shore wind farm company Deep Water. The case, which has been in the court for over a year, regards six-megawatt turbines to be built off the coast of Block Island within state waters at an approximate cost of about $250 million. The company will now resume oceanographic and geological surveys that need to be submitted to the Coastal Resources Management Council and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The company will also survey an area to run a 25-mile transmission line and avoid an important marine habitat. Deep Water will still have to satisfy a host of other agencies to see the wind farm built including the Department of Environmental Management and the Federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. The project is set for completion in 2013, but many are skeptical that such a time line can still be achieved.